Pirates of the Ice Age: Curse of the Sabre Tooth
by Diegorules483
Summary: Soto and his tiger gang are cursed, so they team up with Barbossa and his undead pirates to reverse the curse. Jack Sparrow and Will team up with Manny, Sid, and Diego to rescue Elizabeth, take the Black Pearl, and return Roshan the baby to his father. Rated K Plus for mild coarse language and a little blood. This the first of 4 crossovers and my first fanfic! Please review! :-)
1. Prelude

_A freezing wind howled across the ice. Snow flew into the eyes of a small sabre-toothed squirrel – the only creature to brave these barren wastelands. _

_The scrat – as we will know him from here onwards – clutched a small object to his chest. He needed to bury his beloved acorn, so he would have food after the winter. He attempted to drive his acorn into the ice, to no avail. Scrat whimpered. He had to bury his acorn. _

_He tried again and again, scratching the ice here and there. His large eyes scanned the white plain, for any sign of soft snow to bury his prize._

_Finally, Scrat found what he was looking for; a softer patch of semi-compacted snow. With a squeak of triumph, he raised his acorn above his head and drove it into the ground. _

_It stuck halfway in. Scrat growled. He continued to push and twist the acorn, trying to get it completely covered. When that didn't work, he started jumping up and down, hammering the acorn into the ground._

_Suddenly, a crack emerged from under the acorn. Scrat watched in horror as it spread across the ground, and up the face of a tall glacier. The crack reached the top. Then, the entire glacier started rolling towards Scrat._

_The sabre-tooth squirrel promptly ran in the opposite direction. Then he remembered he had left his acorn in the path of the avalanche._

_Scrat ran back and attempted to pull the acorn out of the earth. No use – it was stuck fast. The squirrel wailed in despair._

_Finally, the nut popped out of the ice. But Scrat was not out of trouble yet. Giant chunks of knife-shaped ice were flying at him. _

_The sabre-toothed squirrel ran for his life, still hugging his acorn. Tall fir trees disappeared under the rapidly-moving glacier._

_Scrat continued to sprint away from the avalanche. Suddenly he screamed, and screeched to a stop. There was another glacier coming towards him from the opposite direction. He was trapped! _

_But… no! Scrat could still see another way out. He ran towards a cliff. The sabre-tooth squirrel would rather fall to his doom than be crushed between two walls of ice. _

_Above him, the glaciers met. Scrat skidded towards the opening, tantalisingly close, yet so far away. He wasn't sure he was going to make it yet. The glaciers were brushing his fur. He pushed towards the narrowing crack._

POP!_ Scrat flew out of the crack and launched into the bright blue sky. _

_As he soared through the crisp, cold air, he noticed his acorn flying next to him. With a squeak of delight, Scrat grabbed it and clutched it close to his chest. Then he realised that he was falling. And the ground was a very, very long way down. The sabre-tooth squirrel screamed as he plunged downwards. _

THUMP!_ Scrat smashed into the ground. Slowly, he lifted his head. His acorn was missing! The scrat sniffed about for any trace of his beloved nut. Just when he was about to give up, a large, hard object hit Scrat's head. His acorn! _

_Just as Scrat was about to pick it up, a giant, heavy hoof squashed him into the ground. When the hoof lifted, Scrat groggily looked around. Animals were everywhere. Dodos, starts, birds, turtles, and aardvarks were all heading south. Scrat had fallen into a great migration. _

_Before he could pick himself up, however, the squirrel was run over by a rotating wheel, and he stuck to it like glue. _

_Scrat groaned as he was pulled away from his acorn. _

**Yay! First chapter up! I would really like to hear your opinion so please review!**


	2. Chapter 1: Follow the Crowd

Elizabeth Swann looked out the window of the carriage. The route ahead was still clogged with animals of all sizes and species, heading south to escape the cold weather. Though Elizabeth couldn't see anything _cold_ about the inside of the horse-drawn carriage. It was stuffy and hot inside, and the tight corset she was wearing didn't help things at all. She could barely breathe.

"Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth turned her head stiffly. Her father, Governor Weatherby Swann, was looking curiously at her.

"Are you alright?"

"I've been having these dreams," Elizabeth murmured. "I haven't been sleeping well."

That was true. Every time she nodded off, she saw the terrifying skull and cross-swords flag, waving on the mast of a black galleon.

That day, almost eight years ago, on the voyage across to America, she had spotted Will Turner, floating on a piece of wreckage from a burning vessel. In his pocket, she had discovered a gold medallion, decorated with a pirate skull face. She had hidden it behind her back, so that the young boy would not be killed for being a pirate.

And she had kept it to this day. Elizabeth looked down at the golden chain on her neck. The skull medallion was hidden under her corset.

Her father smiled kindly. "Dreams pass in time. Do you like the dress? I'm told it is the latest fashion in London." The governor seemed eager to point this out.

"Women in London must have learnt not to breathe," Elizabeth muttered. While the dress was gorgeous, it was very stiff and tight.

Weatherby Swann laughed. "Well, you need to look your best for the ceremony today."

'_Oh, how stupid I've been!' _Elizabeth cursed herself in her mind. _'I should've remembered – it's Captain Norrington's promotion today!' _Norrington was a celebrated Captain in the royal navy.

As if reading her mind, the governor continued. "Captain, or rather Commodore Norrington, is a very fine gentleman. He fancies you, you know."

'_Lots of men fancy me,' _Elizabeth retorted in her brain. _'And I know you would like nothing more than to see me wedded to such a 'fine' man.'_

Suddenly the carriage jerked to a halt. Outside there were angry cries and shouts of "You're going the wrong way!" and "Look out!"

"What in the blazes is going on?" Governor Swann asked. He opened the window of the carriage, and peeked out. "Oh good grief."

"What is it?" Before her father could stop her, Elizabeth peeked out of the window.

Stomping north, oblivious of all the shouts and insults from the animals heading south, was a giant woolly mammoth, four metres high. And he was heading right for the carriage.

One of the soldiers guarding the carriage pointed his rifle at the incoming mammoth. "Oi! Do the world a favour, and move your issues off the road!"

The mammoth glared at the soldier. His trunk started wrapping around the rifle like a snake.

"If my trunk was as small as your gun, pal, I wouldn't draw attention to myself," the mammoth growled.

"Please, leave us alone," quaked Governor Swann.

The woolly mammoth glared at him.

Elizabeth leaned further out of the carriage. "What do you want?"

The hard eyes of the mammoth softened. "Ah, follow the crowd. At least it'll be quieter when you're gone!"

And he stomped off in the opposite direction.

The governor wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. "That was a close one," he commented.

Slowly, the coach rolled forward again. The skilled coachman wove his way through the migrating animals, before turning onto a side track leading up to a cliff.

At the top of the cliff was Fort Charles, where Norrington's ceremony was to take place. But before they could enter the gates of the gigantic stone fortress, Governor Swann needed to pick up a gift for the new commodore.

The carriage entered a small village under the shadow of Fort Charles. Half the buildings were temporary tents, owned by the native people. The other half were stone and timber, permanent buildings which could take anything the wild weather threw at them. These were owned by immigrants from England, many of whom had sailed on the same ship as Elizabeth, eight years ago.

The carriage passed the greengrocers, a tavern, and the fishmongers. Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the blacksmiths workshop. Governor Swann stepped out of the carriage and closed the door.

"Mr Turner!"

Elizabeth peeked out of the crack in the carriage door. Her frown was replaced by a beaming smile.

Standing in front of the blacksmiths was Will Turner, one hand wrapped around a long rectangular case, the other politely behind his back. His black coat was worn and slightly scruffy, and his boots were scuffed. But Elizabeth did not care. She thought Will was the most handsome young man she had ever met. Through the crack in the door, Elizabeth stared unabashedly at Will's sad brown eyes and thick, chocolate coloured hair.

"Good day, sir," Will replied, completely unaware that Elizabeth was eavesdropping on the conversation. "I have your order." He placed the case on a bench, and opened it to reveal a beautiful dress sword and scabbard.

Governor Swann pulled the sword out of the scabbard. "Impressive."

"The blade is foiled steel." Will Turner was keen to point out the strengths and features of the sword. "That's gold filigree laid into the handle." He extended a hand politely. "If I may?"

Taking the sword from the governor, he flung it into the air, and caught it as it fell. "Perfectly balanced."

"Very, very impressive," complemented the governor. He took the sword from Will and slid it into the scabbard. "Do pass my compliments on to your master.

Will sighed. He had crafted that sword all by himself, labouring on for hours and hours, while his 'master' slept in the chair by the fire. '_But one has to be polite'_, Will mused. "I shall," he said politely. "A craftsman is always pleased to hear his work is appreciated…" His voice broke off abruptly.

Elizabeth had stepped out of the carriage. Her golden hair glowed in the sunlight and a radiant smile was on her lips.

"Elizabeth! You look stunning!" Her father voiced Will's thoughts.

Elizabeth did not notice her father's compliments, however. Her eyes were fixed to the handsome young blacksmith standing behind him.

"Will!" she said warmly. "It's so good to see you again. I dreamt about you last night. About the day we met. Do you remember?"

"I could never forget it, Miss Swann," stuttered Will, blushing like a tomato.

Totally oblivious to the affect she had on him, Elizabeth pressed on. "How many times, Will, do I have to ask you just to call me Elizabeth?"

"Once more, Miss Swann," Will answered. "As always."

Elizabeth's face fell. _'Why does he act so proper? Can't he remember that we had so much fun when we were young?'_

"Well, we best not be late for the ceremony." Governor Swann broke the awkward silence. "Come on, Elizabeth." He opened the carriage door for her.

Elizabeth held her head high as she passed William. "Good day, _Mr._ Turner," she said icily, stepping up into the carriage.

"Good day…" started Will, but the carriage door was closed with a bang. The driver cracked his whip, and the cart disappeared in a billowing cloud of dust.

"…Elizabeth."

* * *

At that moment, as Elizabeth's carriage rattled towards the fort, a man was sailing across the broad river that framed the migration trail. Though perhaps 'sailed' was not the most accurate of terms.

Captain Jack Sparrow stood on the yardarm of a tiny fishing dory. His battered brown tricorn hat sat jauntily atop his greasy-brown dreadlocked hair, just failing to hide a hint of blood-red bandana. Assorted trinkets hung from his dreadlocks, and a ring flashed on all but one of his fingers. When he smiled, gold teeth flashed in the midday sun.

All of a sudden, Jack noticed that something was not right. Looking down, he saw that his fishing dory was no longer sailing on top of the water. It was sailing _through _the water. The boat was sinking.

'_Bugger. Leaking again.'_

Jack Sparrow grabbed a rope and slid down to the deck. He landed with a _splash_, and felt water leak into his knee-high sea boots. His hand reached for a bucket, and he began to bail out the water.

As Jack bailed, the fishing boat slipped past a rock outcropping. Five skeletons were hung from nooses, their ragged clothes held in place by a metal cage. One skeleton wore an ominous sign which read: PIRATES – YE BE WARNED. Captain Sparrow paused, took off his hat, and placed it above his heart – a moment of respect for his dead comrades.

* * *

The migration continued along a track that ran alongside the shore. Animals continued to push and shove for position.

Suddenly, one animal – a long nosed aardvark – saw something bobbing in the water. Other faced turned to look, as the object became close enough to be identified as a neglected bucket. The aardvark who had spotted the bucket then looked up to see an even stranger sight.

The fishing boat, heading for the shoreline, was now almost completely underwater. Only the yardarm and top of the mast stuck out of the water. A man rode the yardarm as it slowly, majestically, disappeared underwater. And as the last bit of the dory sank beneath him, with comic precision, Captain Jack Sparrow stepped onto the shoreline and sauntered into the crowd.

"Hey!" shouted a voice.

The captain turned to see an angry start glaring at him. Jack turned and smiled innocently.

"Who says you can just jump through the line?"

"I says," Jack replied. "And I'm not jumping the migration queue just so I can get somewhere warmer more as to go somewhere where I can get something that will take me to somewhere warmer. Savvy?"

The start looked at him quizzically. He didn't understand any of the captain's babble.

Just as Captain Jack Sparrow was about to head off the track, he heard hurried footsteps behind him. A harbourmaster was racing towards him. "Hold up there, ye! It happens to be a shilling to tie up your boat on the migration quay."

Sparrow looked back to the fishing dory – well, the top of its mast – and shrugged.

"I'll need to know your name as well," the harbourmaster insisted. He opened a ledger book.

Captain Jack grinned. "Well, what do you say to _three_ shillings, and we _forget _the name." For emphasis, he tossed three shiny silver coins onto the ledger book.

For a moment, the harbourmaster just stared at Jack disbelieving. Then, he smiled politely and closed the book. "Welcome to the migration, Mr Smith." Then he walked off into the mass of animals.

Jack Sparrow noticed that the harbourmaster had forgotten his purse. The captain shook it, and heard the beautiful sound of coins rattling around. Smiling, he tucked it into his jacket and pranced out of the migration.

**Okay! First full chapter is now up! :D**

**I would love to hear your opinion, so please review!**


	3. Chapter 2: Remember this day

**This chapter will be a bit longer, and have a bit more action in it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Up at Fort Charles, the promotion ceremony had just begun. Trumpets sounded, and a full orchestra played _Rule, Britannia_. Many people – in fact, most of the respectable English population of the human town – had come to view Norrington become a commodore. Ladies were dressed in tight corsets, pinched thin as a pencil at the waist. One of these ladies was Elizabeth Swann, who was struggling to breath. Every time air entered her lungs, the corset seemed to tighten around her chest. Despite the cold temperature, Elizabeth held a fan, and it whipped back and forth in front of her face in a vain effort to keep herself cool.

She could barely see the marching of the British marines, perfectly in step, as they paraded about in the courtyard and formed a pathway with their bayonets for the new commodore.

Norrington walked slowly through the hall of silver blades. Dressed in the blue officer's uniform of the British navy, he looked every bit the nautical hero he was. Stepping up onto a platform, he faced Governor Swann. With choreographed precision, Swann presented the sword and scabbard that Will Turner had lovingly crafted to the new commodore.

With a swish of the sword, _Commodore_ Norrington saluted the governor, before turning to the crowd of officers and civilians who had gathered for the ceremony.

Elizabeth knew that Norrington was vastly enjoying his moment, as he preened in front of the spectators. She also knew that she was struggling to stay upright.

* * *

Jack Sparrow crept through the bushes towards the navy docks. Unlike Elizabeth up at the fort, he had absolutely no trouble breathing at all. Everything was falling into plan.

The captain surveyed the ships at the navy docks. There were many grand warships, but the largest and grandest of them all was the H.M.S _Dauntless_. She was a giant Man o' war, casting a shadow on many other ships at anchor. Her sixty cannons were dead quiet, but even at peace, the cannons and the ship struck fear into every pirate's heart – except Captain Jack Sparrow, who surveyed the vessel with mild interest. He took his time surveying the _Dauntless _until his eye was caught by a smaller vessel – HMS _Interceptor_, a small, sleek brig. While she was tiny compared to the _Dauntless_ and had nowhere near the number of cannons, she had large sails and was one of the fastest ships in the world. Sparrow smiled and his eyes sparkled. That was the ship he would commandeer. Silently, he crept out of the bush and past a tall dead tree, down the hill towards the docks.

* * *

Up at the top of that stump of wood, sleeping like a baby, was a floppy, smelly, browny-green sloth. Sidney the ground sloth was lying on a thin branch, slumbering peacefully – until he rolled over and nearly fell off the ground. He woke up just in time to save himself.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he shouted, pulling himself back up onto the branch. "I tell you, guys, I'm awake!" Hearing no reply, he looked around at the next branch. It was empty.

"Zak?"

No reply. Sid hopped down to the next branch.

"Marshall?"

Still nothing.

"Uncle Fungus?"

Nobody was there. Sid hopped off the tree and started heading down the track that led to the migration trail.

"Oh come on guys! We're going to miss the mi-mi-mi…"

As Sid rounded a corner, he saw the migration trail. Empty.

"…gration."

Then it hit him. _'They've left without me – again! They do this every year!'_

The poor sad sloth fell to his knees and burst into tears. "Why!? Doesn't anybody love me? Doesn't anyone care about Sid the sloth?"

No reply. _'Absolutely typical.' _

"Aw, fine, I'll just go by myself."

He took a step towards the now-empty migration highway…

_SPLAT!_

Sid's foot landed in some warm, sticky, _fresh_, glyptodont poop.

"EEewwwww…sick!" Sid grimaced. He turned to see the glyptodont waddling away, minding its own business.

"OI! Wide-body! Curb it next time!" Sid screamed. "Oh, jeez, oh yuck, oh gross…"

* * *

Captain Jack Sparrow snuck along the quays, taking care to avoid the red-coat marines located at strategic points almost everywhere. Finally, he found a sneaky route down to the wharf where the _Interceptor_ was docked. Smiling, he sauntered down the wooden steps and peeked around a wooden post.

He was in luck. The two guards were sitting down around a large salad dish with two large rhinos. Grinning, he snuck onto the _Interceptor_.

"I can't believe it!" the rhino named Carl exclaimed. "Nice fresh greens…Frank, wherever did you…"

"Don't talk, don't talk," Frank cut him off. "Go ahead, dig in."

"Exactly," commented one of the Royal Marines, Murtogg. Murtogg was a rather plump marine, his large stomach strained at his scarlet coat. "I say less talking, more eating."

"But it would be more polite to finish the conversation first," the other marine, Mullroy, whispered to his companion. Mullroy was shy and thin, his pants seemed way too baggy for him.

Murtogg glared at Mullroy. "He said, 'dig in.' So we should dig in."

Mullroy shut up. There was no use arguing with his loud companion.

There was a gasp from one of the rhinos. Frank had spotted a tiny yellow flower sticking out of the top of the salad. "A dandelion?! I thought the frosts had wiped them out!"

"All but one!" sang Carl.

Suddenly Sid the Sloth shuffled into view. He was still trying to get the poop off his paws. Before anybody could protest, Sid leaped onto the pile of leaves and scraped his dirty paws all over the fresh green leaves, completely oblivious to the furious glares he was receiving from Carl, Frank, Murtogg, and Mullroy.

Sid grabbed onto Frank's large horn, so he could balance himself has he wiped the last of the poop off his paw. "This has definitely not been my day, buddy," he told the angry rhino. "You know what I'm saying?" Then the sloth laughed and patted Frank's head like he was a little puppy. "Did you know that you rhinos have really _tiny _brains? It's a fact, no offence. Heh, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about! And you humans! No tails for balance. It's a wonder you can balance while you walk! And how do you keep warm with no fur?"

Then Sid spotted the dandelion, the last clean object of the salad. "Ooooh! A dandelion! Must be the last of the season!" He picked up the flower, and popped it into his mouth. "Mmmm… delicious!" he commented in his spitty lispy voice, rubbing his pot belly.

Murtogg's face had gone crimson, and steam was coming out of Frank's ears.

"Carl," he growled.

"Easy, Frank," Carl replied.

"He ruined our salad."

Sid's eyes popped open. "Oh!" I'm so sorry, look I really am!" He tripped over in his attempt to escape.

The rhinos and the guards bore down on him. Murtogg and Mullroy both had their rifles out and aimed at the frantic sloth.

* * *

Up at Fort Charles, the ceremony had come to a close. The new Commodore was surrounded by an admiring crowd, admiring his new sword and trying to engage him in conversation. But Norrington had eyes only for Elizabeth Swann. She looked angelic in the afternoon sunlight. Her face was beautiful and pale, and her eyelashes fluttered as Norrington fought his way through the crowd.

The commodore led Elizabeth away from the crowd to a cliff wall overlooking the harbour and migration trail. The scene was majestic. White glaciers shone in the distance, and patches of forest here and there waved gently in the breeze.

"This promotion confirms that I have accomplished the goals I set for myself," Norrington began.

Elizabeth struggled to pay attention to Norrington's words. Standing in the hot sun was causing her to feel faint and dizzy, and breathing in her tight corset was impossible. Her vision was blurring in and out of focus.

Unaware of Elizabeth's distress, Commodore Norrington continued. "But the promotion also casts into sharp relief that which I have not achieved: marriage to a fine woman." He paused and looked at Elizabeth. "You have become a fine woman, Elizabeth."

Norrington's words finally sunk in. _'He's proposing to me!' _The pain in Elizabeth's chest grew.

"I can't breathe," she gasped.

Norrington misinterpreted her words. "I am nervous, too," he said as he turned away from her.

Elizabeth moaned. Her last thought was, _'I really don't want to marry him,' _before she fainted. Like a rag doll, she flopped and fell off the cliff.

Norrington finally turned around. "Elizabeth?" he asked, surprised that she wasn't there.

There was a splash below. Norrington leaned over and saw the waves and froth where Elizabeth Swann had fallen into the water.

"ELIZABETH!" screamed Norrington. Then he turned and ran, heading for the quays.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack Sparrow was playing with the wheel of the Interceptor. He was extremely happy that the guards had abandoned their duty for a delicious juicy salad, for now he could commandeer the sleek navy brig by himself.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion from above. Looking up, the captain saw a young woman teetering on the edge of Fort Charles imposing wall. For a moment, it seemed she was safe. But then she drooped, and plummeted down into the harbour, landing with an almighty splash. Jack looked back at the two marines. They were still chasing the sloth that had ruined their salad.

"Pride of king's navy, you are," muttered Captain Jack Sparrow, lacing his voice with a large dose of sarcasm. Sighing, he pulled off his coat. _'Looks like I'll have to wait to commandeer the _Interceptor_." _ Next, he took off his belt, his pistol, and his bandolier, which jingled and rattled with numerous trinkets, and finally, he laid his hat on top of his many precious items. Without wasting another second, Jack Sparrow majestically dove into the bay.

Elizabeth Swann slowly drifted towards the sea floor. Her gold Medallion drifted in the opposite direction, into a beam of sunlight. The Medallion pulsed, sending a giant ripple spreading out towards the open ocean.

Jack Sparrow did not notice the mini tidal wave as he continued to swim downwards towards Elizabeth's limp body. As he reached her, he wrapped an arm around her body and started to kick towards the surface. But, no matter how hard he kicked, Jack did not move a centimetre upwards. More precisely, he was still drifting downwards.

'_That bloody dress!' _

Jack Sparrow reached with his free hand to the back of the pretty dress and swiftly ripped it off. As soon as it was free, it quickly sank back down to the sandy sea floor. The captain clutched Elizabeth and quickly swam back to land.

* * *

Back up on land, Sid was still trying desperately to escape from the angry soldiers and rhinos. He looked around for any inspiration – and found it in the form of a hard brown pine cone.

"What's this?" he said with false delight. "Oooh! It's a pine cone! I love pine cones!" Sid picked up the pinecone and stuffed in his mouth. Then he started chewing, making an awful sound like breaking glass as his twin buck teeth grinded against the hard wood. "Mmm! That's good eating!"

Then Sid picked up an armful of pinecones and ran towards Murtogg, Mullroy, Carl, and Frank. "But don't let me hog them all up! No, no, no! Here, you try some!" He shoved a pinecone in Carl's mouth and moved the rhino's jaw up and down.

"Bon appetite!" Sid smiled. Then he ran as fast as his legs could carry him in the opposite direction.

Mullroy was shaking with fury. "Now?" he asked.

"NOW!" chorused Carl, Frank, and Murtogg, and they charged after the frantic sloth, up a gentle gradient towards the peak of a hill.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack Sparrow pulled himself out of the water, with Elizabeth over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. After walking up the bank, he laid the young woman on the grass and put his cheek against her nose and mouth. _'Not breathing,' _he thought. Pulling out his knife, he sliced through her corset, tearing it in two.

Elizabeth began to cough and splutter, spitting out sea water. _'Good,' _thought Captain Jack Sparrow. _'She's alright. Now I can get back to commandeering the _Interceptor_.' _

Sparrow turned and strode off – right into the back leg of a large woolly mammoth named Manfred. In fact, Manfred was the same mammoth who had threatened Swann's carriage earlier in the day.

"Oi!" shouted a deep voice.

Jack was about to apologise when another something collided with him – a smelly green-yellow sloth.

"Get off me!" shouted Manfred.

"Pleeease!" pleaded the sloth. "Protect me! I wanna live! Don't let them impale and shoot me! Please!"

The sloth hid behind the giant mammoth. Jack Sparrow was finally able to turn around and see Carl, Frank, Murtogg, and Mullroy screech to a stop.

Murtogg and Mullroy finally realised that they had forgotten their duty. They turned their rifles from Sid to Jack. "This area is off limit to civilians!" Murtogg shouted.

Jack Sparrow sauntered forwards. "I'm sorry; if I see any I shall inform you immediately."  
"What are you doing here and who are you?" Mullroy asked.

"I am Mr Smith, or Smithy if you like, and I have been rescuing this fine madam here. He gestured at Elizabeth – or where she should've been. Instead, there was a crowd of marines, rifles and pistols loaded and aimed at the captain. Leading the troops, and shielding Elizabeth, were Commodore Norrington and Governor Weatherby Swann.

"Thank you, gentleman," Commodore directed a sarcastic comment at Murtogg and Mullroy, who blushed and shifted uncomfortably.

Then Norrington turned to Jack. "You are Miss Swann's rescuer, I trust?" he said.

"Aye," Jack Sparrow smiled.

"Then I believe thanks are in order."

Gingerly, the captain extended his right hand. He was just about to shake Norrington's when the commodore grasped Jack's other arm and pulled up Jack's right sleeve. There, for all to see was the raised, still slightly red, letter P, branded on Jack's arm.

Norrington sneered. "Had a brush-up with the East India Trading Company, _pirate_?" Pulling the sleeve further up Jack's arm, he caught sight of the tattoo of a small bird flying across the ocean. It was faded and worn, but it told the commodore all he needed to know.

"Well, well. Jack Sparrow, isn't it?"

Jack glared back. "_Captain_. It's _Captain_ Jack Sparrow. If you please."

Sid the Sloth spoke up. "Well, if you're a captain, where's your boat?"

Norrington nodded. "The sloth is right. Where's your ship?"

"I'm in the market, as it were," Jack replied.

Commodore Norrington signalled for one of his lieutenants to come forwards. The lieutenant carried all of Sparrow's items that he had dumped on the deck of the _Interceptor_. Norrington held up the pistol. "No additional shot or powder," he commented, before holding up a compass that had been hanging on Jack's belt. "It doesn't bear true. And I thought your sword was made of wood. You truly are the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

Jack Sparrow smiled. "Ah! But you have heard of me!"

"What about us?" asked Carl. "This smelly stinky little pest messed up our salad." He nodded his head towards Sid, still cowering behind Manny's leg.

"And he was trespassing on navy property!" Mullroy spoke up.

Norrington considered these facts. "You can do what you like to him." Then he turned back to Jack Sparrow. "Shackle him."

* * *

Carl and Frank laughed with glee. Sid continued to cower behind Manfred's hairy leg.

"Aw, come on!" Carl called to Sid. "You're making a scene."

"Buddy," Manfred pointed out. "If it's not them today, it's just somebody else tomorrow!"

"Well, I'd rather it _not_ be today, okay?" Sid replied.

"How's this, Sloth?" Frank said. "We'll break your neck, so you won't feel a thing."

Now Manfred was confused. "Wait a minute. I thought rhinos were vegetarians."

Carl snarled. "Well, who says we're going to _eat _him after we _kill_ him?"

"Yeah!" Frank added. "We'll just take our furry piñata and go now."

Manfred glared at the two rhinos. "I don't like animals that kill for pleasure!" he declared.

"Save it for a mammal that cares," spat Carl.

"I'm a mammal that cares!" pointed out Sid.

"Alright," Manfred sighed. "If you want to get the sloth, you'll have to cross that sinkhole in front of you." He gestured with a foot at a patch of ground right in front of the rhinos, who looked uncertainly at the apparent death trap in front of them.

Sid laughed. "Yeah! That's right, losers! One step and you're _gone_!" In apparent triumph, Sid picked up a large stone and threw it at the rhinos. But his shot fell short, and landed right in the middle of the 'sinkhole'. The stone didn't sink a millimetre

Sid was shocked. "You were bluffing, right?"

Manfred nodded, eyes wide with fright. "Yeah. That was a bluff."

* * *

Jack Sparrow was now securely handcuffed. However, Elizabeth was aware that this man had rescued her, and even though he was a pirate, she did not care a fig.

"Commodore!" she protested, standing in front of Jack Sparrow. "This man saved my life. I must protest, he does not deserve the gallows."

Norrington rolled his eyes. "One good deed is not enough to redeem a man for a lifetime of wickedness."

Now that Jack Sparrow was shackled safely, all the men lowered their rifles and stuffed their pistols back in holsters.

"Finally," muttered Jack Sparrow. With a quick step, he wrapped his handcuffed hands around Elizabeth's neck and pulled her back against him. Now he had a shield, and nobody would dare shoot the governors daughter.

"Commodore Norrington… my pistol and belt please," sneered Jack. When the commodore didn't reply, Jack pulled the manacles tighter against Elizabeth's neck, causing her to squirm franticly. Finally, Norrington nodded.

* * *

Carl and Frank laughed gleefully. Then they charged.

Manfred charged forwards too, to meet them.

Carl and Frank slammed into the mammoth's tusks, and started pushing Manfred back towards the cliff.

Sid clung to Manfred's leg to try and stop the backwards momentum. Suddenly, he found himself looking down the face of a rather tall cliff. Sid screamed in desperation.

Hearing the sloth's frantic scream, Manfred pushed back towards the rhinos with all his might. Then, with a toss of his tusks, Carl and Frank went flying.

Sid cheered. Then he stopped. "Oh no! They're coming back!"

Now Carl and Frank were running from different corners towards Sid. Manfred ran towards Carl, and flipped him over.

"Yay!" Sid whooped. Then he saw Frank approaching him at top speed, head down, sharp horn pointed directly at his heart. "AAAAAAAARGH!"

* * *

Just before Frank reached the sloth, he felt himself dragged backwards. The next thing he knew, Frank was flying through the air.

* * *

Carl had just regained consciousness. The first thing he registered through blurry vision was a beautiful yellow flower. "A dandelion?!"

_THUMP!_

Then the last dandelion ever of the season was squashed by Frank.

* * *

Jack Sparrow noted with satisfaction that Norrington was holding out his belt, sword, pistol, and hat. But the captain was not that stupid. If he released Elizabeth to retrieve the weapons and effects, his shield would be gone, and so would his luck.

"Elizabeth…it is Elizabeth, isn't it?" asked Jack Sparrow quietly.

"_Miss Swann_ to you," hissed Elizabeth.

"Well, then, Miss Swann, would you be so kind?"

Elizabeth reached out as far as she could, grabbing Jack Sparrow's items. She strapped his belt around his waist, handed him his pistol, and stuffed his tricorn hat back on his head.

"You are _despicable_," she growled.

"Ah, sticks and stones, love!" Jack Sparrow was unfazed by her insult. "I saved your life, you're saving my life, and we're square, savvy?"

* * *

Sid whooped. The rhinos had been defeated! Now he would be safe for another day. But his joy was short lived. Several marines – including Murtogg and Mullroy – had gathered in a semicircle around the two mammals – and their rifles were aimed straight at Sid and Manfred. At their back was a very steep drop down a cliff. Sid whimpered and clung to Manfred's trunk. Even the grumpy mammoth was too frightened to object.

Jack Sparrow spotted the two cornered mammals, right behind his back – and behind them, his escape route. Now he had a final plan.

Suddenly, he turned around, pointing his pistol right at Elizabeth's head. Slowly moving backwards, he smiled at the marines, commodore, and governor.

"Gentlemen! Milady!" he announced grandly. "You will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!"

Jack then pushed Elizabeth into her father's arms. Turning around, he pushed apart the British soldiers and kicked Manfred's leg. The mammoth, already on the edge of the cliff, started to slip, and a moment later was sliding down the bank.

Then Jack Sparrow leaped onto a tree trunk, and swung his handcuffs over a conveniently located vine. With a push, Captain Jack Sparrow was flying along the vine towards the fort. A moment later, he had disappeared from sight.

Norrington was breathing very deeply, and his face was boiling. "Lieutenant Groves," he growled. "Mr Sparrow has a morning appointment with the gallows. It would be a shame for him to miss it."

**Yep, Captain Jack Sparrow saves Manny and Sid! :D**

**Please read and review! I would love to hear what you think!**


	4. Chapter 3: Familiar Face

_THUMP._

Manfred opened his eyes when he realised he had stopped moving. There, plastered to his face, was that totally annoying sloth who had bumped into him earlier in the day.

"You have beautiful eyes," Sid commented.

Manfred glared back at the sloth's large eyes. "Get off my face," he grunted, standing up and shaking Sid off in the process.

Sid laughed dizzily. While the shock of falling – or rather being pushed – down a cliff had worn off the mammoth, the sloth was still feeling the side effects. He hopped up and wobbled after the Manfred. "Whoa!" he shouted. "You and me, we make a great team. What do you say we head south together?" Sid was hoping he could have a big tough mammal as his friend so the rhinos – or any other nasty animal for that matter – wouldn't attack him.

Manfred chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah! Great! Jump on my back and relax the whole way!"

"Wow, really?" Sid missed out on the sarcasm.

"No."

Suddenly, Sid noticed that Manfred wasn't heading southwards, along the seaside route now devoid of migrating animals. Instead he was heading north, towards the large glaciers, shimmering light blue in the afternoon light.

"Wait! Aren't you going south?" the sloth asked.

Manfred didn't bother to reply.

"The colder weather? Changing of seasons? Migration instinct? Any of this a-ringing a bell?"

"Nope, I guess not. Bye!" called Manfred.

Sid puffed himself up as much as I could. 'Actually,' he thought, 'I really don't need a big fat mammoth around with me. He and I would attract too much attention.' "Alright. I can take it from here. Thanks for the help." He turned and shuffled off southwards.

But just as he passed the cliff that he had just fallen down with Manfred, four silhouettes appeared at the top of the bank.

"Hey, you overgrown weasel!" shouted Carl. "Just you wait 'till we get down there!"

"Yeah!" added Murtogg. "We'll teach you to disobey the British authority!"

Sid had absolutely no idea what the authority was, but he sure didn't want to be skewered on a rhino's horn like a kebab. Perhaps he did need a big mammal around to help protect him after all. He turned on his tail and ran back to the large mammoth.

"Whoa! Wait up, buddy!"

Manfred groaned and cursed under his breath. He had really hoped that he had seen and smelled the last of the sloth.

"I've just been thinking, and I reckon this south thing is way overrated. The heat, the crowds, who needs it?" Sid continued rambling on. "And isn't this great? We're two of a kind. Two bachelors, knocking about in the wild…woo hoo!"

The mammoth glared at the sloth. "No, you just want a bodyguard, so you don't end up somebody's side dish."

Sid laughed. "You're a very shrewd mammal. Now, you lead the way, Mr Big…uhhh…didn't catch the name."

"Manfred."

"Manfred? Ew, yuck. That's a stupid name. How about…Manny? Manny the Moody Mammoth, Manny the Melancholy, Manny the…"

Manfred turned with a blazing glare and chased Sid up to the top of a large tree.

"Stop – following – me!" Manfred growled, pulling the tree close to his face before letting it go. It swayed wildly back and forth. Sid climbed down and wobbled on unsteady legs after Manfred.

"Okay, you've got problems. I'll still call you Manny, but you won't even know that I'm here. I'll just zip the lip, and all you'll here is _mmph mmmmph mmmmmmm_…"

Manfred sighed. It was going to be a long trip north.

* * *

Red-coated marines dashed through the passageways of the British settlement. The news had been spread; the infamous pirate Jack Sparrow was loose in the town and he had to be captured and brought to justice as soon as possible. Special patrols checked every nook and cranny, but none of them noticed that something was out of place near John Brown's Blacksmith Shop.

When the footsteps of the patrols finally faded into the distance, a pair of eyes peeked out from behind a statue. Jack Sparrow pulled his knife out of the statues hand and tiptoed into the building.

Inside, he surveyed the workshop. It was dim and musty inside. Hammers, pliers, and other tools hung from racks or leaned against the stone walls. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth. Harnessed in a pit was an old grey donkey that was totally unconcerned with the new visitor. Captain Jack smiled. Luck had picked his side. It was certain that he could get his manacles off using the many tools in the forge.

Suddenly a loud clang echoed around in the dusty air. Jack jumped, his keen brown eyes searching for the source. Slumped over a chair in the corner was a dirty, unshaved man, his hands cradling a non-existent bottle of rum – now lying on the straw-covered floor. From the looks of him, Jack assumed he was the blacksmith, but judging by his condition, he was no threat.

The pirate set to work. He walked over to the glowing furnace. Picking up a large sledge-hammer from the wall, he held the hammer in his left hand and held his right hand over the furnace. The metal chains of the handcuff started to glow. Just when he felt his hand begin to burn, he swung the hammer and brought the heavy head down on the chain.

The chain didn't break. Jack winced. Another burn on his right hand, all for nothing. He plunged his stinging hand into a bucket of cold water to cool it down.

Then he looked at the donkey. It was harnessed to a chain that turned a system of cogs attached to the roof. A smile formed on the pirate captain's face. Picking up a rod that had been lying in the furnace, he strode over to the donkey and poked it's behind with the glowing end.

The effect was instantaneous. The donkey shrieked and set off at a trot, causing the cogs to clank and spin, clattering and squeaking as they turned. Jack chucked the rod back at the anvil and watched the largest spinning cog. Timing his jump perfectly, Sparrow hooked his manacles over one of the teeth and hung on.

_CRACK!_

As a smaller cog tooth interlocked with the adjacent gap in the large cog, it snapped clean through the manacles. Captain Jack Sparrow smiled, satisfied. At last he was free of his chains. Literally.

_CREE-EEE…_

Turning with a start, Jack was horrified to see the door of the blacksmiths opening. Someone was coming inside!

'_Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger.'_

* * *

Will Turner closed the door of the forge. He had just been out to measure the feet of a new horse to make some new horseshoes, and was mentally preparing himself to face the heat of the furnace to carve the horseshoes. Will was also trying to get his catastrophic meeting with Elizabeth out of his mind.

Noticing the clattering of cogs and the snorting donkey, he raced down the steps and patted the donkey on the head. The donkey quickly calmed down, and soon the _clatter clatter _of metal upon metal had ceased.

Now that the noise was gone, Will could get fully prepared. He walked out of the donkey's pit and hung his coat on a hook. He glanced at his drunken, sleeping master, and a quirky grin came to his face.

"Right where I left you."

Then young Turner paced over to the anvil – where he noticed the hammer, normally leaning against the stone wall, lying on top of the heavy iron.

"Not where I left you…" Will mused.

Then something else caught his eye. A battered, faded, tricorn hat. Will frowned. Neither he nor his master had any hat like that.

He reached out to grab it and investigate it when he felt something metal slap his hand.

Will, startled, jerked his head to behold a sword held by a very strange man.

He wore a red bandanna, which covered his forehead but left the top and back of his head exposed. Various shiny coins, beads, and other bits hung from his greasy brown dreadlocks. And he grasped a curved longsword in his right hand. William didn't need a millisecond to figure out who this was.

"You're the one they're hunting. The pirate," he accused.

Jack Sparrow didn't seem to notice the accusation. He studied Will's face. "You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?" he asked as he bore down on the blacksmith.

"I make a point of _avoiding_ familiarity with pirates," Will replied.

"Ah. Well then it would be a shame to put a black mark on your record then, wouldn't it?" Jack Sparrow replied, lowering his sword and making his way towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

In a flash, Will pulled out his own sword – a simple, but deadly sabre – and pointed it at Jack's throat.

However, Captain Jack Sparrow was not scared. He merely brought up his own sword and crossed blades with Turner. "Do you think this wise, boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?"

Will pushed his sword closer to Jack's throat. "You threatened Miss Swann," he growled.

"Only a little," Jack chuckled. Then he lunged with his sword towards William's chest.

Will smartly blocked, then struck back with a swing that would've cut off Jack's head – if he hadn't ducked.

They duelled back and forth, their blades clashing with incredible speed. First, Sparrow pushed Turner back towards the door, but before he could strike again, Will launched a savage counter-attack that drove Jack right back against the furnace.

Captain Jack Sparrow laughed. "Well, you know what you're doing, I'll give you that. Excellent form. But what about your footwork?"

Jack Sparrow started slowly stepping in a circle. Will matched Jack's every move.

"Very good!" Jack said, complimenting William like a teacher. "Now I step again…"

Jack quickly leaped around in a quick circle, blocking the blacksmith's strikes. Soon, he had himself where he wanted to be – with quick access to the door.

"Ta,' he said, and quick as a flash, Captain Jack Sparrow sheathed his sword, and dashed up the steps towards the door.

But Will Turner was not done yet. He flung his sword at the door.

_THUNK!_

The sword sunk deep into the wood just above the latch, blocking it – and effectively locking the door!

Jack Sparrow watched the sword flex back and forth right in front of his nose. After a moment, he tried to pull the sword out of the door. With all his might, he heaved on the sword. It didn't budge. _'Bugger.'_

Will Turner watched with satisfaction as the pirate jiggled up and down, trying to free the blade from the wood. He did pride himself on his aim and sword-throwing skills.

Finally, Jack gave up, and sauntered towards Will. "That is a wonderful trick," he said. "Except once again, you are between me and my other way out, and now…" Jack Sparrow unsheathed his weapon, "…you don't have a weapon!"

William didn't bother to answer. Instead he picked up a sword which had been lying in the furnace, and pointed the glowing end right between Jack's eyes. The donkey let out a moan and started moving. Jack's eyes widened. This was not very good. He needed to escape, but this boy would not give up.

Jack dashed towards the back door, but Will met him. Sparks flew as the hot metal collided with the cold.

_TING TING TING WHOOSH_

The swords clashed over and over again. Then Jack flicked the weapon out of Will's hand. Quick as a flash, Will rolled over a moving bar, set in motion by the terrified donkey, and grabbed another sword. Turning quick as a flash, he parried another blow from the pirate.

All of a sudden, Jack Sparrow noticed that there were swords everywhere, hanging on the walls and in racks attached to spinning poles. "Who makes all these?"

"I do!" Will cried. "And I practice with them three hours every day!"  
"Well, you need to find yourself a girl, mate!" Jack replied. Noticing William's pained expression of fury and anguish, he grinned. "Or, perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you've already found one, and is otherwise incapable of wooing your damsel." Jack put on a false expression of disgust, and looked down uncomfortably. "You're not a eunuch by any chance, are you?"

That was a direct hit on Will's pride. The blacksmith growled, and picked up another sword from yet another nearby rack. "I practice with these swords three hours a day," he shouted, "so if I meet a pirate, I can _kill_ him!"

With a ferocious yell, William drove Jack back onto a leaning platform on wheels, before jumping onto the wood. The platform, unsettled by the shifting weight of the pirate and the blacksmith, broke free of its ropes and started rocking back and forth. Will was unsteady on his landlubber feet, but Jack Sparrow, used to the pitching of a vessel under his boots, stayed steady, and swung his sword at Will.

_TING TING WHOOSH TING_

Suddenly, the chain still attached to Jack Sparrow's left hand flicked around the end of Will's sword. Not missing a beat, Will rammed his sword into a rafter beam. Now the pirate was half hanging from the wooden beam, his legs dangling just above the platform. The blacksmith smirked.

But his smirk was cut off abruptly by a large plank in his chin. Jack had kicked the plank and caused the end to whack the blacksmith. Will Turner flew backwards and landed hard on the hay-covered floor.

Jack Sparrow pulled himself up with all his strength, and hung, upside down, on the rafter. With his feet firmly planted, he grabbed onto the hilt of Will's sword and pulled.

Will was now back on his feet. Grabbing his sword from the ground, he raced back onto the platform.

Captain Jack Sparrow felt the sword start to slide out of the wooden beam. Suddenly, he realised he was not in a very good position.

He fell back onto the platform. The sudden impact sent William flying.

Jack rolled back onto the ground. Shaking himself off, he jumped back onto the platform and started searching for Will.

There was an ominous hacking sound from above. Jack's eyes had just enough time to register the blacksmith cutting through a large bag of barrels, before he too was flung up onto a rafter.

But thanks to years of life at sea, the pirate was able to land on his feet and quickly move to engage the blacksmith again.

_TING WHOOSH TING WHOOSH_  
Will and Jack leaped from rafter to rafter, swords clashing continuously. But suddenly, Will flicked his sword through the hilt of Jack's sword. It clattered uselessly on the ground.

Suddenly unarmed, Jack Sparrow decided to run. He swung down to the floor, with Will in hot pursuit, and picked up a large bag of hot ashes. When Will Turner reached him, Jack emptied the bag in the blacksmith's face.

Yowling, Will dropped his sword and started brushing the ash out of his face. When he lifted his face, he found himself looking down the barrel of a flintlock pistol.

"You cheated," Will cried in amazement.

"I'm a pirate." Jack replied.

_BANG! BANG!_

The front door started flexing back and forth, and through the gaps, several red-coated marines could be seen trying to break in. They had discovered where the pirate was.

"Move away!" Sparrow ordered. Will merely shook his head.

"Please move!"

"No. I cannot just step aside and let you escape."

The pirate cocked his pistol. His hand started shaking. "This shot is not meant for you…"

_CRASH!_

Before Jack could finish his sentence, an empty bottle came down upon his head. Slowly, the pirate captain toppled over, unconscious. Mr Brown stood behind him, holding the broken bottle, with a confused expression on his face.

Finally, with a crash, the front door was broken open, and soldiers burst in, rifles loaded and at the ready. Commodore Norrington followed them, his pistol held high in ceremonial fashion.

The marines surrounded the unconscious pirate lying on the ground. Norrington smiled. "Excellent work, Mr Brown. You've assisted in the capture of a dangerous fugitive."

Will felt like screaming. Sure, his master had knocked out Sparrow, but Will had kept him from escaping, and done all the hard work. It was so _unfair_.

"Just doing my civil duty, sir," muttered John Brown in a hoarse voice.

Norrington laughed. "Well, I trust all of you will remember this as the day Captain Jack Sparrow _almost_ escaped. Take him away."

The marines shackled Jack Sparrow once again, and hauled him roughly out of the forge and along the streets towards Fort Charles.

* * *

**Chapter 4 done! Okay, not much crossover stuff here, but there is more on the way!**

**Please review if you like it!**


	5. Chapter 4: Watching

While Jack Sparrow was being led off to the prison cells, life was normal in another part of the human settlement. The buildings here were tents, with animal-skin coverings and bone supports. The inhabitants, the native Paleo-Indians, had discovered many advantages living with the new British people. They now had better weapons, lighter and stronger building materials, and better protection from enemies, thanks to their deal with the immigrants. Male hunters admired their new metal-tip spears and sharp daggers. Women sitting on new wooden benches embroidered new cross-stich patterns while keeping an eye on their children. Domesticated wolves and English hunting beagles sniffed the leftover bones of the last hunt, looking for scraps of meat. A tall, heavily-built man got up from his seat near the campfire and strode across the camp. He was the chief of this tribe, and his name was Runar. All the other men looked up to him to guide the tribe through tough times. Now that the weather was getting colder, Runar sensed it was nearly time to move to the other camp.

Just as Runar approached his tent, the fabric covering the entrance was brushed aside by a very pretty woman, holding a small baby. The woman's name was Nadir, and she was Runar's wife. She smiled at the sight of her husband, and gently placed the baby on the ground. Runar beamed at the sight of his young baby, Roshan, standing upright on the ground. Crouching down, the chief motioned for Roshan to walk towards him. Roshan lifted a leg, but instead of taking a step, he flopped backwards onto his butt. The baby giggled. Runar smiled gently, and picked up the baby. Then he threw Roshan up into the air, before catching him again. The baby squealed with delight. He loved that trick. At the prompting of Roshan, Runar repeated the trick, unaware that on a ledge above, greedy green eyes were watching…

* * *

"Awww, look at the cute little baby, Diego," crooned a large, fierce looking, muscular sabre-toothed tiger. "Isn't it nice he'll be joining us for breakfast soon?"

"It wouldn't be breakfast without him, Soto," replied Diego. Diego was not as large as his pack leader, Soto, but he was sleeker, if anything. His agility and ruthlessness had earned him the position of Soto's second-in-command.

"An' it won't be breakfast for any of you tigers unless we get that medallion," barked another voice; gravely and worn. Two fancy black sea-boots stepped up onto the rock.

"Captain Hector Barbossa," Soto purred. "I trust you will cover us."

"Aye!" replied Barbossa. "The British will be too busy dealing with us to be botherin' on what's goin' on in the Paleo-Indian camp."

"Revenge will be sweet," Soto growled. "That human killed half our pack, and now wears our skins to keep warm. We eat his child – it's an eye for an eye." He turned to his second-in-command. "Diego, alert the pirates and our troops. We attack just after midnight."

Diego nodded. He turned and slunk away.

"And Diego," called Soto. "Bring me that baby…alive." His mouth narrowed to a vicious grin.

"When the curse is lifted, I want my revenge to be fresh."

* * *

As the sun sank below the horizon, and as the tigers planned their revenge, Manfred trudged towards a sheltered cliff face, carrying a huge load of logs. When he reached the side of the cliff, he dumped the logs on the ground, and started constructing a large lean-to for himself.

A few seconds later, Sid waddled over, panting and puffing – dragging a single, dead twig behind him. "Whew!" he gasped. "I'm wiped out!" The lazy sloth wiped his forehead.

Manfred raised one of his bushy eyebrows. "That's your shelter?" he asked.

"Hey, you're a big guy, so you've got a lot of wood," Sid replied indignantly. "But I'm a little guy!"

"You've got half a stick," the mammoth snorted. "A molehog could carry more than that!"

"Yeah," retorted Sid. "But I'm not making shelter. With this little stick and my highly evolved brain…" he tapped his head for emphasis, but poked himself in the eye. "…ow… I shall create…FIRE!"

"Huh. Fascinating." Manfred muttered.

"Well," Sid said, "I've seen the humans do exactly what I'm about to do. How hard can it be?"

"Y'know," the mammoth sighed, "I've seen humans pick their nose. Does that mean I'm gonna try it? No."

The sloth laughed, and snapped the stick in half. "Well, we'll see if brains triumph over brawn tonight, now won't we?"

* * *

BOOM!

Lightning rolled across the cloud-darkened sky, accompanied by a drum-roll of thunder. Torrential rain had been pouring down now for half an hour. Sid was still desperately rubbing the two, thoroughly wet twigs together. His fur was soaked.

Manfred watched from his cosy, dry lean-to a few metres away, a smug smile on his face. "Hey!" he teased. "I think I just saw a spark!"

Sid's eyes lit up, and he quickly examined the sticks. Seeing no flame, his joyous expression melted into one of dismay. Finally giving up, he trudged over to Manfred's shelter. "Any chance I can squeeze in there with you, Manny ol' pal?"

"Come on," Manfred protested. "Don't you have anybody else to annoy? That pirate, perhaps?"

"Oh, that pirate! He was a good guy, helping us escape!" Sid tried to squeeze into the lean-to, but Manfred's bulk filled the entire shelter.

"Why can't you just go annoy your family instead of me?"

"Nah, my family migrated without me," Sid commented, leaping up onto Manfred's long tusk and using the mammoth's trunk as a blanket. "It was just like last year. I mean, you should've seen what they did; they tied me up on the highest branch and gagged me with a field mouse, then they covered their tracks with snow and walked through streams so I would lose their scent, and…" he smiled slightly," …well, who needs them anyway?"

Manfred wrapped his trunk around Sid's neck and threw him into a puddle.

"So, what about you?" Sid asked. "You have any family?"

The mammoth started. His eyes, normally dull and grumpy, now showed memories of pain and loss. For a moment, the sloth thought he saw a tear at the corner of one of Manfred's eyes, before the mammoth turned around in his lean-to and faced away from Sid. His giant rump blocked the entrance.

"Okay!" Sid yelled. "So you're tired, so we'll talk more in the morning, Manny!"

Suddenly, it started to hail.

"Ouch! Ow! Ow!" the sloth screamed as he was bombarded by hailstone after hailstone. "Manny? Manny? Can you scooch over a drop?'

No reply.

"Manny?! Oh, come on! Nobody falls asleep _that _fast! MANNY!"

Still no reply. With a sigh, Sid shuffled over to Manfred's tail, and covered his head with it. It was going to be a very, very long night for the sloth.


	6. Interlude 1

_The hail continued to pelt down. A flash of lightning illuminated the soaking landscape – and also our Scrat, climbing up a tall dead tree, pushing his acorn with the top of his head. The wet slippery wood didn't help his ascent at all. Sweat was pouring down Scrat's forehead, but he refused to give up. He continued to claw his way skywards. _

_Suddenly the acorn slipped off his head. Scrat squeaked in alarm, and stuck out his head to catch the acorn. It bounced on his nose before falling once again, but the squirrel would not lose his nut. He opened his mouth and caught the nut between his bottom jaw and his two long sabre-teeth. _

_Scrat decided a new strategy was needed. Twisting around so that his stomach was to the wood, rather than his back, he continued climbing the tree, pushing his acorn in front of him on his snout_

_At last he reached the top of the tree. With one final heave, Scrat pushed the acorn into a hollow at the top of the tree and collapsed, gasping for air. _

_Once he had regained his breath, he looked into the hollow. It was just the right size to fit his acorn! What an amazing stroke of luck! With a cry of triumph, Scrat raised the acorn above his head and…_

ZZZZZZZAAAPPP!

_A bolt of lightning leaped from the clouds to the highest solid object it could find – which happened to be Scrat's acorn. The electricity leaped from the acorn to Scrat's body, instantly frying his fur and sending the acorn flying. _

_Scrat whimpered. Not again. _


	7. Chapter 5: Attack of the Tigers

It was now nearly midnight, and the storm had passed over Fort Charles and the human settlement. However, a spooky fog had gathered over the sea, and was now swirling through the masts of the vessels at dock, over the impenetrable stone walls of the fort, and through a barred window opening to a prison cell…

"Here boy!"

"Come 'ere boy!"

"Come on, who wants a nice juicy bone?"

"Come on, doggy!"

Jack Sparrow smirked at the seedy prisoners trying to encourage the prison dog closer, so they could grab the keys attached to its collar and unlock their cell. They had been trying for over an hour now, since the captain had been shoved into his own damp cell.

"You can keep doing that forever. The dog is _never_ going to move," he pointed out.

One of the prisoners glared at him. "Oh, excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows yet, mate! We still want to live!"

Captain Jack Sparrow smiled. _'Well, it's the gallows for me and them. I'll see if I can think up an escape plan.' _Covering his eyes with his tricorn hat, he leaned against the bars of his cell and meditated on a possible escape.

* * *

"There you go, miss. It was quite a difficult day for you, I'm sure."

Elizabeth watched as her maid, Estrella, tucked the bed warmer under the thick blankets.

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded. "I suspected Commodore Norrington might propose, but I must admit I wasn't entirely prepared for it."

Estrella shook her head. "I was talking about you being threatened by that pirate. Sounds terrifying!"

Elizabeth looked up. "Oh. Well…yes, it was." In truth, now that she looked back, she thought it had been quite an exciting experience.

Estrella continued chatting. "But you said the Commodore proposed! Fancy that! Now that's a smart match Miss, if it's not too bold to say."

"It is a smart match," Elizabeth lied. "He's a fine man. A man any woman _should_ dream of marrying."

The maid leaned in closer. "Well, that Will Turner…he's a fine man too."

Elizabeth's glared at the maid. The mention of Will's name made her blood boil. She did not want to hear his name, especially after his stiff, upright manner earlier in the day. "That is too bold, Estrella!" she snapped.

The maid blushed. "Beggin' your pardon, Miss. It was not my place." Then she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Elizabeth Swann sighed, and fingered the gold medallion, still tucked under her night-dress. All of a sudden, she felt her skin go cold as the glaciers. The candle on her bedside table started flickering, as if fanned by a breeze. Then, with a _poof_, the flame died, leaving Elizabeth in the darkness. She could feel something in her bones. Something very bad was going to happen. Very soon.

* * *

_BANG! BANG! BANG! _

Will Turner hammered the glowing rod of metal. With each blow, he tried to erase the memories of his disastrous encounter with Elizabeth, and his fight with Jack Sparrow. But the thoughts would not go away.

Just as he raised his hammer for another blow, he felt the air around him thicken. Something was not right.

Opening a window, William looked out into the foggy night. The street was empty, save for a stray tomcat racing across the street. There didn't appear to be anything wrong.

But if Will had looked in the other direction, he would have seen a very strange and frightening sight. A large black galleon was emerging through the fog, cannons primed and ready for action. And standing astride the bowsprit was the silhouette of a sabre-tooth tiger…

* * *

"Has my daughter given you an answer yet, Commodore?" asked Governor Swann.

"Not yet, no," replied Norrington. The pair walked along the wall of Fort Charles, too deeply immersed in conversation to notice the black silhouette sailing into the harbour.

"Well, she has had a very trying day," chuckled the governor. Then he paused. "Hang on. What's that sound?"

_BANG!__  
_"CANNON FIRE!" screeched Norrington, and pushed the governor to the ground. Just a second later, a cannonball shattered the stone wall of the fort. Fort Charles was under attack!

"Return fire!" yelled the commodore, scrambling to his feet.

* * *

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Jack Sparrow sat bolt upright at the first percussive rumble. "I know those guns!" he cried. He raced up to the window. Through the bars, Jack could see explosion after explosion as cannonballs shattered the walls of Fort Charles. And down in the harbour, he could see the shape of a coal-black galleon with tattered sails, spewing cannon fire at the settlement and fort. "It's the _Pearl_!"

"The _Black Pearl_?!" quaked another prisoner. His white, frightened face poked between the bars separating his cell and Jack's. "I've heard stories. She's been preying on ships and settlements everywhere up and down the coast for near ten years." His voice cracked with fright. "She leaves no survivors."

Captain Jack Sparrow laughed. "No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?"

* * *

_KABOOM! KABOOM!_

Runar sat bolt upright in his tent at the first blast of cannon fire. Motioning for Nadia and Roshan to stay in the tent, he grabbed his spear and metal shield, and poked his head out of the tent.

The sight he saw was terrifying. A black sailing ship with ripped sails was firing cannonballs towards the fort, the British village – and his camp. Cannonfire had already destroyed several tents. Runar had to duck to avoid having his head blown off by a flying cannonball.

Then, as he looked to the right, he saw an even more fearsome sight – four sabre-tooth tigers racing up the path towards the camp! Runar shouted a warning to his men. Just before the tigers reached Runar, a group of his best warriors raced out of their tents and blocked the entrance into the camp.

The tigers would not give up, however. One tiger leapt up onto one warrior's shield. In response, the warrior drove his sharp dagger into the chest of the sabre-tooth. But the tiger didn't drop down dead! No blood leaked from its wound. Instead, it laughed a horrid, evil laugh, and slashed back at the warrior with its sharp shiny claws.

Unknown to the warriors, this attack was actually a diversion. A fifth sabre tooth tiger was sneaking around the blockade towards Runar's tent…

* * *

The _Black Pearl_ continued to release volleys of cannon-fire, destroying building after building. But now a new, more sinister threat was emerging. Longboats of pirates were rowing towards the ruined wharfs and beaches. The pirates brandished cutlasses, pistols, and axes, which they whirled above their head while screaming a vicious war cry.

As soon as they reached land, they swarmed off and charged towards the half ruined British village, still shouting and yelling.

A small group of pirates hung back. They had a special mission – while the other pirates would pillage the town, this group would find a special something they desperately needed.

Two of the pirates were the oddest pair anyone had ever seen. One of them, called Pintel, was short and stout, with a large, baggy belly and a scraggly beard. The other one, named Ragetti, was tall and lanky. In one hand, Ragetti held a wooden eye, which he stuffed into his right eye socket. He swivelled it around until a painted iris faced forwards. Then, with a maniac grin on his face, he and the other pirates set off at a run towards Governor Swann's mansion, just on the outskirts of the village.

* * *

Will Turner heard the yells of the pirates rushing into the town. Steeling himself, he grabbed his trusty sword and a large axe and leaped out the door.

Seeing a large muscly pirate chasing a screaming woman, he launched his axe at the pirate.

It hit him square in the back. The pirate was momentarily stunned by the blow, and slowly toppled over onto the dirty road. William dashed past the fallen pirate, pausing to pick up his axe as he did.

The street was filled with pirates. Some threw bombs into shops. Others tussled with citizens, stabbing the tired and weak ones. Several bodies already lay still on the ground, soon to be joined by others.

Will was determined not to let himself be killed. He entered the fray, smartly distracting one pirate with his axe before swiping through the pirate's midsection with his sword.

* * *

Diego snuck around the back of Runar's tent. _'Tricking the humans is very easy,' _he thought. _'They never thought about protecting the chief's tent.'_

The sabre tooth tiger nosed through the opening of the tent, and surveyed the interior.

There, wrapped in an animal-skin swaddle, was the baby. Diego growled happily. He started stalking towards the sleeping infant.

Just before he reached Roshan, Nadia raced into the tent. At the sight of a fearsome tiger about to attack her child, the human woman gasped, and snatched up the baby.

Before Diego could react, Nadia whacked him on the head with a stick. Head spinning, Diego watched as Nadia raced out of the tent, carrying the baby.

'_Come on, you big softy!' _Diego cursed himself. Shaking himself out of his daze, he leaped out of the tent.

* * *

Runar heard a desperate cry from behind him. Looking around, he saw his beloved wife, Nadia, clutching Roshan – sprinting away from a sabre tooth tiger.

Now Runar realised the purpose of the attack. The tigers had drawn the defence away from his tent – leaving the way open for a single sabre to attack his wife and child. Runar grunted and raced towards his fleeing wife, but before he had taken two strides, two other sabre-tooth tigers blocked his way.

* * *

Nadia raced out of the ruined camp, clutching the baby to her breast. She knew that sabre-tooth tigers were much faster than humans. She couldn't outrun this tiger for long. But she had to at least try; otherwise she and her precious baby would be killed.

* * *

Diego saw Nadia weave through the trees in front of her. He sneered. He wasn't even running flat out, yet he was still rapidly gaining on her. Diego quickly diverted course, his keen brain plotting a course which would bring him in front of Nadia.

* * *

Gasping for breath, Nadia glanced behind her. The tiger was not there. Perhaps her wild diversion through the pine trees had shaken the awful creature.

Suddenly she heard a growl in front of her. Screeching to a stop, she saw the sabre tooth tiger standing right before her, an evil look in his green eyes. He slashed at Roshan with his sharp claws, but Nadia pulled the baby back, so that the claw didn't cut through the animal-skin swaddle, only hook onto Roshan's good-luck bead bracelet. The tiger growled and tossed the bracelet back onto the rocky ground.

Nadia took off again. She could hear the clacking of the big cat's claws on the rock behind her. Lungs screaming, she ran faster than she ever had before.

Then Nadia reached the edge of the cliff. She stopped, and turned around. The tiger was stalking towards her, intent on stealing Roshan.

Instinctively, Nadia took a step backwards. She felt her heel slip as a pebble dislodged itself from the cliff edge. Looking down, Nadia shuddered as she saw the tall drop from the top of the cliff to the river below.

But she considered drowning to be a much gentler and easier fate than being mauled to death by a ferocious sabre-tooth. And if she jumped, perhaps…just perhaps Roshan could survive.

Her mind was set. Glaring triumphantly back at the tiger…Nadia leaped into the abyss.

* * *

Diego's eyes widened as he saw the woman leap over the cliff, still clutching the baby. Racing up to the cliff edge, he saw the splash as Nadia hit the freezing water below. Surely the human and baby were dead or injured. _'Damn. I was so close. I just hope Barbossa will be successful.'_ Flattening his ears in annoyance, Diego raced back into battle. He would need to tell the truth to Soto. And he knew his boss wouldn't like the answer.

* * *

Elizabeth dashed out onto her private balcony. From her father's private mansion on the top of a hill, she could see the devastation laid out in front of her.

In the middle of the harbour sat a large black ship, firing cannonballs in every direction. The Paleo-Indian camp was in ruins. Fort Charles was half destroyed. Most of the British village was burning, orange flames lighting up the foggy, dark night.

Suddenly, Elizabeth saw pinpoints of light moving up the path to the mansion. A gang of pirates stormed the iron gates, smashing through the flimsy metal and charging up towards the doors.

Elizabeth gasped and raced back inside. She ran through her bedroom door and out onto the corridor. She could hear the bangs of heavy fists against the oak-panel door.

When she reached the top of the stairs, Elizabeth saw the Swann butler about to open the door. "No! Don't…" she started.

But it was too late. The butler opened the door. Standing right outside was Pintel and the other pirates.

"'Ello, chum!" Pintel growled, lifting a flintlock pistol and directing it at the butler's chest.

_BANG!_

Elizabeth screamed as the butler fell to the floor, dead. The pirates swarmed inside, yelling vicious curses. Most of them separated, racing off to plunder the many rooms filled with expensive and precious ornaments and objects.

However, Pintel and Ragetti looked up the staircase, to where Elizabeth was rooted to the spot. "Up there!" Ragetti yelled.

Elizabeth instantly shot back along the passage and into her room, where she locked the door.

Suddenly she felt a hand pull her away from the door. Twisting around in shock, she saw her maid, Estrella, quivering with fear.

"Miss Swann," she whispered urgently. "they've come to kidnap you!"

"What?!"

"You're the governor's daughter!"

Those four words spoke for themselves. Of course the pirates would want to kidnap the daughter of Port Royal's governor. Then they could hold her for a very large ransom.

The doorknob started rattling violently. Estrella squeaked in fright.

"Estrella," Elizabeth said, "they haven't seen you. Hide, and when you get a chance, run to the fort. Don't look back."

Estrella nodded, and turned towards the large wardrobe in the room. Elizabeth turned and ran through to the next room, just as Pintel and Ragetti burst through the door. The two pirates followed her through the other door…

_WHAM!_

Elizabeth whacked Pintel on the forehead with the bed warmer. The pirate collapsed in a heap, unconscious.

Before she could hand out the same treatment to Ragetti, however, he grabbed the handle of the bed warmer.

"Got you!" he sniggered. "Boo!"

Elizabeth merely arched an eyebrow. Then she lifted the catch which opened the bed warmers lid. Burning coals and ashes showered down onto Ragetti.

"AAAH! It's hot! It's burning!" Ragetti screamed, smacking his smoking eyebrows.

Elizabeth quickly shot out the door and down the stairs.

In the main entrance hall, chaos reigned. Pirates chased screaming maids or carried piles of gold and jewels outside. Elizabeth Swann could hear the heavy footsteps of Pintel right behind her.

Suddenly, Ragetti leaped down in front of her, growling angrily. She was now cornered.

All of a sudden, a cannonball smashed through a window, bowling over another pirate laden with treasure. While Pintel and Ragetti were distracted, Elizabeth ran, underneath a falling chandelier and into the drawing room.

Locking the door with a candle-holder, Elizabeth looked around for a weapon to defend herself with. A coat of arms, with two swords embedded in it, hung on the wall. _'If I can just get one out…' _she thought.

Elizabeth grabbed the hilt of one of the sword and pulled. To her shock, the whole coat of arms came off the wall. The sword was bolted into the metal and would not budge!

_Thud! Thud!_

"Oh no!" Elizabeth squeaked. Pintel and Ragetti were charging the door. It wouldn't be very long before they got through…

* * *

With a squeaking of tortured hinges, Pintel and Ragetti finally broke through the door. Ragetti held his flaming torch high, lighting up…an empty room.

Pintel growled. "We know you're 'ere, poppet! Come out!" His eyes scanned the room. "We promise we won't 'urt you."

Ragetti gave Pintel a confused glance. "Eh?"

Pintel merely gave his nephew a knowing look. Ragetti grinned and tapped his nose.

Pintel continued searching the room. "You've got something of ours, poppet, and it calls to us."

Ragetti tapped Pintel on the shoulder. The older pirate was about to berate his comrade when he saw what Ragetti had spotted. A folded bit of carpet outside a large wooden cupboard.

"The gold calls to us, it does."

* * *

Elizabeth whimpered inside the wardrobe. Picking up the gold medallion, she observed the creepy skull face, shining in the moonlight. _'Oh god. Is this really their medallion? How do they know where it is?'_

Suddenly, the light vanished. Elizabeth's eyes flicked up – to see Pintel's face right outside the wardrobe.

"'Ello, poppet."

The doors suddenly opened, and Pintel took a step forwards, pistol primed and ready, when all of a sudden, Elizabeth said the first word that came into her head.

"Parley!"

The pirates stopped. "What?!"

"Parley," Elizabeth gasped. "I evoke the rights of Parley. According to the Pirate Code set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take me to your captain!"

"I know the Code," snarled Pintel.

"Then you know if an adversary demands parley you can do them no harm until the parley is complete," Elizabeth retorted.

"To blazes with the Code!" growled Ragetti, finally losing his temper.

"She wants to be taken to the captain!" barked Pintel. Then he grinned. "An' she'll go without a fuss. We must honour the code."

* * *

_CLANG TING WHOOSH_

Will Turner continued to clash with a pirate, dodging his adversary's blades and quickly striking back. All of a sudden, however, his enemy whipped a chain around William's throat. Laughing, the stocky pirate raised an axe above his head.

"Say goodbye!" he sneered.

_KABOOM!_

The _Black Pearl _released another volley of cannon-fire. One cannonball smashed through the chain holding a heavy sign to a building. The sign swung down, whacking the pirate through tinted glass and into the building.

"Goodbye!"

Will strode back into the street. He was just about to chase another pirate when he heard a screech from the quays. A gang of rough pirates were pulling along a beautiful woman in a flowing cream nightdress. It was Elizabeth.

"Will…" squeaked Elizabeth as she was dragged around the corner.

"Elizabeth!" gasped William. He took a step forward, ready to pursue her, when he was clobbered in the back of the head by a large candlestick. The impact knocked Will senseless, and he toppled to the ground.


	8. Chapter 6: YOU LOST IT!

_WHOOOOOOOSH!_

Jack Sparrow was still staring out the barred windows when he saw the cannonball hurtling directly towards his cell. He leaped off the bench and crouched on the straw.

_BOOM!_

Shattered bricks and stones flew across the cell, leaving a gaping hole…not in Jack's cell, but in the cell of the other seedy prisoners. Whooping and cheering, they rushed out the gap and disappeared into the night.

One of them turned to Captain Jack with a sad smile. "My sympathies, friend. You've no manner of luck at all."

Then he leaped out the hole and into the blackness.

Jack looked through the gap with a growing emptiness in his heart. "Bugger," he muttered. "Stuck yet _again_."

Suddenly, the shifting clouds uncovered a large, glowing , first quarter moon, illuminating a bone lying on the floor outside.

Another idea popped into Captain Sparrow's head.

Picking up the bone, he waved the end around and whistled. "Come on, doggy!"

The prison dog poked its head out from under another wooden bench.

"It's just you and me now. You and ol' Jack."

Wagging its tail, the dog slowly got up and walked slowly towards the bone.

"That's a good boy! Come on! A little closer!"

The dog walked a few steps closer, and then stopped. Jack lost his temper.

"Come on, you filthy, slimy, mangy character!"

The dog whined, and promptly ran down the stairs.

"No! No! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

_BOOM!_

The iron door to the prison cells banged open. An unconscious redcoat guard tumbled down the stone steps, his bayonette clattering down beside him. Two pirates stomped into the room. "This ain't the armoury!" one of them growled.

The other one turned his head towards Jack. His angry frown turned into an evil grin. "Well, well! Look what we 'ave 'ere! 'Captain' Jack Sparrow!"

The first pirate spat on Jack's face. "Last time I saw you, you were all alone on a godforsaken island, shrinkin' into the distance. You're fortunes aren't improved much."

Captain Jack Sparrow already had a comeback in mind. "Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen," he smirked. "The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers."

The second pirate let out an angry growl, and thrust his hand through the bars to grab Jack's neck. Looking down, where there normally would be skin and clothes, Jack Sparrow saw…rags and bone, shining in the blue moonlight.

"So there is a curse then. That's interesting."

"You know _nothing_ of Hell!" the pirate shouted, before punching the captain across the cell and back into the wall. The pirates trooped over the body of the soldier and back up the stairs.

Despite having an aching back, Captain Jack Sparrow wore a grin on his face. "That's _very _interesting," he said, looking at the dog's bone reflected in the moonlight. "_Very _interesting." The night had just taken a very positive turn.

As Jack sat up, he felt something shift behind him. Turning around, he saw a stone that had been dislodged from its place in the wall. The hole was bigger than before.A large smile appeared on Jack Sparrow's face. _'Perfect. Now I have an easy escape route.'_ Crouching down on the floor, and picking up the bone, he set to work.

* * *

_BANG!_

The sharp crack of musket fire broke through the chaotic tangle of yelling and growling in the Paleo-Indian camp. Several British soldiers came dashing across the rope bridge connecting the town and the camp, firing shots at the tigers at random.

'_Damn,'_ Soto thought. _'We've overstayed our welcome. We can't fight off half the garrison.'_

A flash of orange caught the corner of his eye. There was Diego, standing near the edge of the cliff. Soto's second-in-command flicked his head down to the bay, and his boss understood.

"There's Diego!" ordered the sabre-tooth. "Fall back to the _Pearl_!"

Soto galloped down the path towards the galleon in the harbour. Oscar, a slim, but muscular, specimen, followed suit, as did Lenny, a chunky, plump scimitar cat, and Zeke, a scrawny, jittery sabre who laughed at just about anything.

'_I hope Diego was successful,' _Soto thought as he ran.

* * *

_BOOM! BOOM!  
_Elizabeth looked up at the massive galleon looming in front of her. It was truly a terrifying sight; black all over, with tattered sails and cannons poking out of the sides of the hull.

Extremely frightening…save for one thing. Illuminated in the occasional light of cannon fire, Elizabeth Swann saw a beautiful woman figurehead, holding a bird in one hand. _'What an unusual figurehead for a pirate ship.'_

The longboats came alongside the _Black Pearl_. Stolen treasure was carefully raised up to the deck and dumped in large chests. Elizabeth was pulled up a rope ladder by Pintel, and onto the slippery deck. Looking up, she saw a small monkey swinging on the many ropes.

Suddenly, a large African man with facial tattoos blocked Elizabeth's path.

"I didn't know we was takin' on captives," he said in a deep voice.

"She's invoked the right of parley," explained Pintel, "with Captain Barbossa!"

Seeing her chance, Elizabeth stepped forward. "I am here to…"

_WHACK!_

The Bo'sun slapped her on the cheek. "You will speak when spoken to!" he growled. He raised his hand, ready to slap her again…when a salt-wrinkled hand grabbed the Bo'sun's arm.

"An' ye'll not lay a hand on those under the protection of parley," a gravelly voice said.

"Aye, Captain," muttered the Bo'sun, and moved away.

Elizabeth took a moment to observe Captain Hector Barbossa. He was an old man, his face worn by many years at sea. His birds-nest beard was brown, going grey. On his head sat a large, fancy hat, with a plume of blue ostrich feathers, and the small monkey sat on his shoulder, making faces at her.

"My apologies, miss," Barbossa rasped.

"Captain Barbossa," hissed Elizabeth, "I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against our settlements."

Barbossa sniggered. "There were an awful lot o' long words there, missus. We're naught but humble pirates. What is it that ye want?"

"I want you to leave. And to never come back."

The whole crew, who had gathered around their captain and captive, all laughed heartily.

"I'm disinclined to acquiesce your request." Hector Barbossa growled. "Means _no_."

"Very well," Elizabeth retorted. She stomped over to the edge of the ship, pulled the medallion out of her nightdress, and held it over the railing. "I'll drop it."

In the light from the cannon fire, all the pirates could see the skull face engraved in the gold. Captain Barbossa's eyes widened. "Me holds are burstin' with swag. That bit of shine matters to us." He turned back to Elizabeth. "Why?"

"It's what you've been searching for. I recognise this ship! I saw it eight years ago on the crossing from Britain!"

"Did ye now?"

Elizabeth Swann nodded. "Fine. It seems to have no value to you, so there's no point in me keeping it, then." She loosened her grip on the chain, just enough to let the medallion jerk downwards.

"No!" the pirates cried, rushing forwards.

Elizabeth smiled, and withdrew her hand from over the railing.

Barbossa chuckled. "You have a name, missy?"

Her mind worked quickly. The medallion had been Will's, so they must be searching for him as well. "Elizabeth…Turner. I'm a maid at the governor's household."

The pirate captain was stunned. He turned to the crew, and announced, "Miss _Turner_!" Every single pirate started muttering and sniggering.

"Bootstrap," Pintel uttered to his shipmates.

Barbossa returned his attention to Elizabeth. "So, how does a maid come to own a trinket such as that? Family heirloom, perhaps?"

"Well, I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean," she lied.

Hector nodded. "Well, you hand this trinket over and we'll put this area astern and never return."

After a moment, Elizabeth Swann handed Barbossa the medallion. Smiling, he handed it to the monkey, which swung up into the rigging of the ship.

"Our bargain?!"

Captain Barbossa merely walked away.

The Bo'sun began to shout orders. "Still the guns and stow 'em away! Prepare to set sail as soon as the tigers are on board! Step lively or you'll taste the cat-o-nine!"

Elizabeth stormed after Barbossa. "You have to take me to shore! According to the Pirate Code…"

"First!" Barbossa snapped, "Taking you back to shore was _not _part of our agreement. Second…you have to be a pirate for the code to apply, which you're not. And third…" he grinned, "the code is actually what you'd call _guidelines_. Welcome aboard the _Black Pearl_, Miss Turner!"

Before she could protest, Elizabeth was grabbed under the arms by Pintel and Ragetti, and hauled away.

* * *

As he approached the _Black Pearl_, Soto could hear shouts echoing from the deck of the vessel. _'They're almost about to set sail,' _he thought. _'We're just in time.'_

The sabre tooth tigers screeched to a halt at the shore. A small rowing boat, manned by three pirates, was waiting for them. "Yer all ready?" one asked in a husky voice.

"Almost," Soto replied. "We're just waiting for Diego."

"There he is!" called Lenny. An orange blur streaked down the hillside and stopped in front of Soto. All of a sudden, the commanding sabre realised that his second in command was empty handed!

"Where's the baby?" Soto demanded.

"I lost it over the falls," Diego admitted.

"YOU LOST IT?!" Soto roared. His voice softened to a dangerous growl. "I want that baby, Diego!"

"I'll get it back!"

"You'd better…unless you want to be serving yourself as a side dish!"

"Can we trust you on that, Diego?" Oscar purred. He was Diego's big contender for the place of second-in-command, and really hoped that Diego would fail.

Diego growled at his rival.

"Onto the boats, you dirty lot!" Soto ordered. Then he turned to Diego. "We'll sail up the river to Half Peak. Meet us there. It had better be alive."

Diego nodded to his boss, and galloped away. He had to find the baby as soon as possible.

The other tigers boarded the longboat, and began their journey back to the _Black Pearl_.

Runar heard yelping from up ahead. One of his men was waving frantically at him. He ran like he never had before.

Lying on the ground was…Roshan's good luck bracelet. The tiger must have killed his child and wife.

The other members of the tribe gathered around in a circle and bowed their heads.

For a moment, Runar felt like he was going to die of grief.

Then, something burst through those sad depths inside him. A giant red volcano of anger, spouting hot lava into his head…

Runar lifted his head. His eyes glowed with the thoughts of revenge. Those sabres had taken away what was precious to him…he would take something back in return.  
Bellowing a war cry like an angry bull, he stormed down towards the harbour. His men had no choice but to follow. They dashed after their chief, over a crest and down a hill…leaving their ruined camp behind them.


	9. Chapter 7: THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Will Turner opened his eyes a crack. The first thing he saw was blue sky, tainted with grey smoke. Then a large tawny chicken head obscured his view.

"_Burk, burk buuuuuurk?" _the chicken enquired.

Will lifted his head, frightening away the hen. His head throbbed. What had happened? All he remembered was fighting pirates in the streets…

Pirates. Dragging away Elizabeth. '_Oh no. Oh god!'_

William totally forgot all the pain in his head, and leaped to his feet.

The town was deserted. Buildings lay in ruins. Smoke lazily drifted out of the rubble. Ships in the harbour were now sunken wrecks. Carriages, horses, and donkeys filled the migration trail. And the remainder of the navy was prepared to leave.

Will dashed down to a temporary structure, hastily erected in front of the last standing wharf. Commodore Norrington stood in front of a mahogany table, looking down at a map, accompanied by Governor Swann

"They've taken her!" gasped Will. "They've taken Elizabeth!"

Norrington didn't even bother to look up. "Mr Mullroy , remove this man."

The thin, scraggly marine stepped out of line to grab William.

"We have to hunt them down! We _must _save her, Commodore!" The blacksmith pulled out of Murtogg's grasp.

Governor Weatherby Swann stepped forward. "And where do you propose we start." Shaking his head sadly at Will's blank face, he continued. "If you have any information concerning my daughter at all, please, share it!"

Will slumped his shoulders. All was lost.

Suddenly, Mullroy spoke up. "That Jack Sparrow…he spoke of the _Black Pearl_."

"Mentioned it is more what he did," contradicted Murtogg.

"Ask him where it is and where it is going!" Will shouted. "Perhaps he knows."

"No. The pirates who invaded this settlement left Sparrow in his cell, ergo they are not his allies. The entrance to the cells are blocked, so even if we wanted to, we couldn't get in. We are heading north with the Paleo-Indians. We shall establish their most likely course, Governor…"

Will Turner slammed his axe into the table. "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

"Mr Turner," said the Commodore, "you are not a military man, nor a sailor. You are a blacksmith. And this is not the moment for rash actions!" He pulled Will away from the table, and hissed in his ear. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only man who cares for Elizabeth Swann."

* * *

"…And then she picked this hair of my shoulder, and said, 'Look, if you're going to have an extra mating dance, at least find a female with the same colour pelt!' And I'm like, 'Whoa! She's going to go praying mantis on me!' You know what I'm saying, Manny buddy?"

Sid and Manfred strolled through a glade of apple trees alongside the river. The late-autumn leaves glowed golden in the morning sun.

"If you're going to find a mate in life, you should be loyal," Manfred grunted. "In your case, _grateful_. Now leave me alone."

Sid picked a juicy red apple of a nearby branch. "Well, I think mating for life's just plain stupid," he prattled. "There's plenty of Sid to go around here. Oh, that reminds me, did I tell you about the…"

_BUMP!_

Sid walked straight into the mammoth's leg.  
"Manny?" the sloth asked, wondering why his companion had stopped for no reason. He ducked under the mammoth's body, and looked up at his face.

Manfred was staring, wide eyed, at something in the river. Sid followed his gaze…and gasped.

Lying in the river, clutching a branch with one hand and a bundle in the other, was Nadia. Her snow-white face turned towards the two mammals on the bank. There was a pleading look in her eyes.

* * *

Slowly, Nadia pulled herself with her free hand towards the shore. Sid knew that this human wasn't long for this world. Her breathing came in short, ragged gasps.

Finally, she reached the shore. Her eyelids fluttered, and her breathing became shallower and shallower. With her last remaining strength, she pushed the bundle as far up the shore as it would go. Slowly, it started to roll down…

…and then Manfred caught it with his trunk. His sad brown eyes locked with Nadia's.

The human smiled. Her precious object was safe and she was at peace. Her head sunk down and her eyelids closed forever.

* * *

But Manfred and Sid didn't notice this. They were much more interested in the mysterious package. Manfred rolled it over…to reveal the podgy, pink face and short brown hair of a human baby.

Roshan slowly opened his large brown eyes, and looked up at the two mammals. A smile formed on his big fat lips.

"Look at that!" Sid cried. "He's okay!"

Roshan gurgled happily. Amazingly, he had survived the plunge from the high cliff into the freezing waters below without a scratch.

Sid's eyes flicked involuntary upwards to the shoreline. The woman, who had been lying there a few moments ago…was gone.

The sloth straightened up, and scanned the river with his large goggle eyes. There was no sigh of Nadia. "She's gone!" he lisped.

* * *

Manfred continued to stare down at Roshan with wide, interested eyes. Suddenly, a shadow of sadness passed over his face. Slowly, he turned around and trudged away.

"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted the sloth from behind him. "Manny, wait! Aren't you forgetting something?"  
"No."

Sid gaped at the departing mammoth. "You just saved him!"

"Yeah, well, I'm still trying to get rid of the last thing I saved."

"But you can't leave the poor thing here!" Sid hollered. Uncertain on how to pick the human baby up, the sloth hovered over him for a second, before clumsily picking Roshan up by the waist and hurrying after Manfred.

'_Oh, man!' _the mammoth thought. _'Why can't this guy just leave me alone?'_

* * *

As Sid hurried after Manfred, something caught his eye: black smudges rising up from the nearby cliff. _'Smoke!'_ Sid thought. _'Where there's smoke, there's fire, and where there's fire…there are humans!'_

"Look!" The sloth pointed up at the smoke trails. "There's smoke! That's his herd right up there on the hill! We should return him."

Manfred rounded on Sid, eyes blazing with anger. "Let's get something straight right here, sloth! There isn't a 'we'! There never _was_ a 'we'. In fact, without _me_, there wouldn't even be a _you_!"

"Just up the hill," Sid whimpered.

"Listen very carefully!" Manfred gestured with his trunk, making mouth-like movements with the two trunk lips. "I'M…NOT…GO-ING!"  
The sloth glared at him spitefully. "Fine. Be a jerk! I'll take care of him." He turned haughtly and marched towards the cliff.

Manfred snorted. "Oh, yeah, that's good. 'Take care of him'…you can't even take care of yourself. This I gotta see." He followed the sloth at a distance.

"I'll return you," Sid cooed to Roshan. "We don't need that meany-weany mammoth, do we? No we don't!"

Then he looked up at the imposing wall of rock right in front of him. _'Oh man. It's so high. What if I slip…?'_

Sid looked back at Manfred for support. The mammoth merely smirked, and nodded up at the cliff.

The sloth steeled himself, and reached up for the first ledge. His stout, fat body and short arms and legs were not built for climbing cliffs. Sid finally managed to pull himself halfway up to the outcrop, but slipped and fell, supported between his right foot and his head. Slowly, he recovered, and finally reached the ledge.

"You're an embarrassment to nature, do you know that?" Manfred called from down below.

Sid laughed. "This is cake! I'm fine, I'm fine!" Under his breath, he whimpered. "I'm gonna die!"

Sid worked himself higher and higher up the cliff. Manfred was _almost_ impressed. _'If he wasn't so annoying, I'd be truly amazed.'_

As the sloth pulled himself up to another ledge, he heard a loud _rip_, and felt the weight shifting in the baby's swaddle. _'Oh no!'_

He looked down in time to see Roshan slip right out of his swaddle. Quickly, Sid grabbed Roshan's animal-hide top with his left foot.

"Nice acrobatics," Manfred called from below.

"MANNY!" Sid shouted urgently. The baby was slipping from his claws.

The mammoth's eyes widened.

Finally, Sid lost his grip on the baby. Roshan plummeted towards the ground, squealing excitedly. Manfred raised his trunk to catch him…

_ROAR!  
_An orange blur intercepted the baby just before he reached the mammoth's trunk. The blur landed on a rock, and materialised into a terrifying sabre tooth tiger.

Roshan wailed in fear.

* * *

Diego took a moment to catch his breath. Thankfully, the baby had been alive. And it wasn't just Diego's position that had been at stake. It had been his live.

Turning around, the sabre had just enough time to see something big and brown heading towards him before a mammoth's trunk slammed him in the chin.

Diego loosened his grip on his prize for a moment, and in that moment, the mammoth grabbed the baby. The large mammal towered over Diego, growling angrily.

The sabre tooth tiger nursed his aching jaw, and quickly reverted to a different tactic: being polite. "That pink thing is mine," he said smoothly.

"Ah, no," said a spitty voice. Diego looked up to see a plump sloth slowly edging it's way down the cliff. "Actually that pink thing belongs to us."

Suddenly, the sloth slipped and fell, landing hard on his triangle-shaped head.

Diego suppressed a smirk. "'Us'? You two are a bit of an odd couple."

Manfred glared at the sloth. "There is no _us_!"

"I see," the sabre-tooth tiger teased. "Can't have one of your own, so you want to adopt."

Sid walked boldly forwards and grabbed Roshan. "Look, we're sorry to interrupt your morning snack," he said, "but we gotta go."

'_Dang it,' _Diego thought. _'I'm about to lose the baby again.'_

"The baby? Please," he lied. "I'm only returning it to it's herd."

"Ha!" Sid laughed. "Nice try, bucktooth!"

"You calling me a liar?" Diego hissed ominously, growling in Sid's ear.

"I…I…didn't say anything," gulped the sloth.

"You were thinking it."

"I don't like this cat," whispered Sid to Manfred. "He reads minds."

The sabre turned his attention to the mammoth. Taking the opportunity, Sid slunk to Manfred's side, carrying Roshan in his arms.

"The name's Diego, friend," the tiger announced.

"Manfred," replied the mammoth shortly, "and I'm not your friend."

"Fine…Manfred. But if you're looking for the humans I think you're wasting their time. They packed up and left camp ages ago."

Manfred snorted. "Thanks for the advice. Now beat it." Then he turned to Sid. He might hate the sloth, but travelling with a predator was much less favourable. "Alright, I'll help you return it to it's herd, but please _promise _me you'll leave me alone after that!"

The pair started walking away from Diego. The sabre glared after them, his golden-green eyes glowing with anger. Roshan waved happily at the tiger.

"Alright, alright!" Sid lisped. "It's a deal. Manny, what's your problem?"

"You are my problem, Sid!"

"Well, I think you're stressed. Maybe that's why you eat four hundred pounds of food per meal. You know it's hard to get fat on a vegan diet…"

"I'm not fat! It's all this fur. It makes me look _poofy_."

"Alright, you've got fat hair, but when you're ready to talk, I'm here. Ha, ha, ha…did you see what I did there? Manny? Manny?"

* * *

Jack Sparrow heard them before he saw them.

He had been sitting on a tree stump in the ruined Paleo-Indian camp, watching the last navy vessels head north up the wide, winding river, and wondering how to take the _Interceptor_ alone, when he heard voices from the south. Quick as a flash, Jack buried himself in a ruined tent and watched the southern crest of the hill.

"What are you doing?" said one voice, deep and booming. "Just drop it on the ledge."

"Good idea, Manny," said another voice, spitty and with a lisp.

A human baby popped onto the ground. With an excited squeal, he brushed his long black hair out of his brown eyes and started crawling towards the camp.

'_This must be his home," _Jack Sparrow thought. _'Well…was his home.'_

"One of us should go with him, to make sure they find him," said the second voice.

"Good idea," agreed the first voice.

The second voice let out a cry of alarm. "No! No! Manny, wait, wait...AAAAARGH!"

A goggle-eyed sloth flew over the edge of the cliff and landed hard on the ground. Quickly, the creature covered his eyes with his three-clawed paws.

"NOOO! Don't spear me!" it shrieked. Then it peaked through its claws at the deserted, ruined, burning campsite. "Ohhhhhh…this is a problem."

Another mammal poked it's head over the hill crest…a large, brown woolly mammoth. "Now what, Sid?" it muttered. Then it sighed. "Oh, that's just _perfect_!"

The sloth, apparently called Sid, chased after the baby as it crawled through the smouldering ruins. _'There's something familiar about that sloth,'_ Captain Jack Sparrow mused, _'but I can't remember for the life of me where…'_

* * *

Roshan looked up to see a rag hanging from an old clothes line. Smiling, he reared up onto his knees to reach the rag, but lost his balance and fell into a wicker basket. The basket flipped over, covering the baby. Laughing, Roshan started crawling again.

Sid ducked backwards under the clothesline. _'Hey! That was fun! I suppose they'll make it a game in the future…maybe I'll invent it! What to call it…Ludo?...Lindo?...Limbo?'_

_THWACK!_

Sid stepped onto a wooden rake, which whacked him in the face. The sloth tumbled over onto the ground.

Manfred followed Roshan through the campsite. The baby wove through the smoking tents and burnt wood before he stopped in front of a small straw bed. Roshan crawled out of the basket, and hugged the cot…his cot.

Memories flooded back into Manfred's head. Not sat memories, but happy ones. A small, sad tear formed in his right eye, and he quickly wiped it away with his trunk.

Sid sidled up to the mammoth. "Where did they go?" he asked to nobody in particular as he watched Roshan.

Another voice broke through the conversation, bold, quirky, and…rather familiar.

"Have you not heard? The humans left this morning with the British."

Sid started, and turned for the source of the voice. Standing among the piles of canvas, his oily brown dreadlocks blowing in the wind, was the pirate captain who had saved them the day previously…Captain Jack Sparrow.

"You!" the sloth gasped. "You're the pirate who saved us!"

"Ah. I knew your faces were familiar."

Another familiar, but unfriendly voice joined the conversation.

"I told you they were gone," growled Diego.

Manfred snorted. "Oh, look who it is. Come on, tiger, don't you have some poor defenceless little animal to disembowel?"

Sid was still staring at Jack Sparrow. "They left? Which way? They can't have gone far…I mean, they could've gone this way, or that way, or that way…" The sloth pointed in random directions.

Diego sneered. "You don't know much about tracking, do you."

"Hey!" Sid shrugged. "I'm only a humble sloth. I see a tree, eat a leaf, that's my sort of tracking."

The sabre-tooth tiger sighed. "Well, you didn't miss them by much." He picked up a broken twig and showed Manfred a bright green leaf. "It's still green. They headed north two hours ago."

"'It's still green. They headed north two hours ago,'" mocked Sid, putting two sticks in his mouth like sabre's teeth.

Roshan giggled so hard he fell onto a wooden spoon. The spoon flung a half-eaten fish in the air, which landed on Manfred's trunk. The baby clapped his hands in enjoyment.

"You don't need this humiliation," Diego said.

Manfred wholeheartedly agreed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Captain Jack Sparrow had left the animals to their conversation. He couldn't see any way they could help him at all. Now he needed to get somewhere peaceful so that he could formulate a new plan.

A creaking sound came from ahead. Looking up, Jack saw somebody walking along the last remaining rope bridge connecting the ruined village and ruined camp.

His shoulders were slumped and his face was down, but the pirate could still make out the facial features of this man. And they were oddly familiar.

Suddenly, the man looked up at him with sad brown eyes. His expression lit up in a flash, and he started jogging. Jack quickly wiped his face and put on his usual quirky expression.

"Jack Sparrow?" gasped the man as he reached the pirate captain.

"Aye?" Jack replied.

The man stared at him. "How did you get out of prison? I thought it was blocked."

"I used…um…lets see…" Jack Sparrow mused, miming levering a stone out of a wall.

"Leverage?" suggested the other man.

"Yes! Leverage, that's the one. I used leverage."

* * *

Will Turner sighed. This conversation was getting way off track. "Are you familiar with that ship? The _Black Pearl_?"

Jack Sparrow scratched his arm absent-mindedly. "I've heard of it."

"Then where does it make berth?"

Jack laughed. "_'Where does it make berth?'_" he mocked. "Have you not heard the stories? 'Captain' Barbossa," here he put emphasis on the first word, "and his crew of miscreants sail from Half Peak…the mountain which cannot be found except by those who already know where it is."

"The ship is real enough, therefore its anchorage must be a real place too," Will stated.

"You're a smart lad. But why ask me?" Jack Sparrow asked.

"Because you're a pirate."

"You want to turn pirate yourself then?"

William snarled. "Never!" Then his expression fell from one of anger to one of misery. "They took Miss Swann."

Jack laughed. "Oh! So it is that you've found a girl!"

Will Turner glared at the pirate.

Captain Sparrow continued. "Well, if you intend to brave all, hasten to her rescue, and so win 'fair lady's' heart, mate, you'll have to do it alone. I see no profit for me."

"I can help you in a fight," William stated simply. "I'm good with the sword. If you get into a tricky situation, it will help to have another to watch your back."

"What's your name?" Jack Sparrow asked.

"Turner. Will Turner."

Something lit up in Jack Sparrow's eyes. "That would be short for William, I imagine. Good strong name. No doubt named for your father." He extended a hand. "I've changed me mind. I swear on pain of death that I will take you to the _Black Pearl_ and your bonny lass."

Will was puzzled. Why had the pirate decided to help him only after he had heard his name? But it was a chance to save Elizabeth. Slowly, he extended his right hand.

Jack Sparrow took it and shook it vigorously. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." William confirmed.

Captain Jack Sparrow smiled. He now had a way to get the _Black Pearl_ back…persuading Barbossa with Will Turner. His path to his ship was now much easier.

Suddenly he heard voices from behind him. The animals were arguing about something.

"Give me the baby!" insisted the sabre-tooth tiger. "I can track down humans a lot faster than you two."

The mammoth pulled the baby closer to him. "So you're just a good citizen helping out?"

The tiger growled. "I just know where the humans are going, that's all."

"Everybody knows where they're going," the mammoth snorted. "They're travelling upriver to Glacier Pass with the British. They have another settlement on the other side."

The sabre tooth tiger grinned. "So, Manfred, unless you know how to track, which I'm pretty sure you don't, you'll never catch up with the humans before the pass ices up with snow. Which should be, like, tomorrow." A few small snowflakes fell from the sky for emphasis. "So you can give that baby to me, or get lost in a blizzard. Your choice."

After a moment, Manfred picked up the baby. He hovered Roshan for a second over the tiger's open jaws, before dumping him into the sloth's arms. "There's your little bundle of joy, Sid. We're returning him to the humans."

Sid the sloth laughed. "Awwww, the big bad tigey-wigey gets left behind!" he cooed, stroking the tiger's nose. "Poor_ Tigey-Wigey_!"

Manfred shook his head. "Sid, 'Tigey-Wigey' is going to lead the way to Glacier Pass."

Sid blinked.

Diego grinned.

Sid carefully tiptoed away. "Uhhhh…Manny, can I talk to you for a sec…"

"No!" Manfred growled. "The sooner we find the humans, the sooner I get rid of Mr Stinky-Drool Face!"

The sloth gasped, insulted.

Will looked at Jack. "They're heading in the same direction as me. Once we've rescued Miss Swann, I can join up with the British again. Strength in numbers, that's what they say."

Before the pirate could protest, Will stepped forward.

"We're travelling in the same direction as you," he announced boldly. "Perhaps we could travel together. Strength in numbers, that's what we British say."

The mammoth stared at William, expressionless. The sloth looked eager. But the sabre was thinking, his eyebrows screwed together in concentration.

Finally he nodded. "Yes. I think it's a good idea that we all travel together. Added expertise on the care of human babies and good weapon skills could definitely help us humble animals."

There was something in Diego's voice that Jack Sparrow didn't like. But he had no choice. He just had to go along with it.

"Do we have an accord?" he asked, putting his right hand out.

"I think we do," sighed Manfred. He put his trunk on top of Jack's hand. So did Sid, Will, and Diego.

Roshan slapped his podgy hand down on top of Sid's paw, copying the others.

"Ouch!" yelped Sid.

Diego crept up to Sid. He had not intended to pick up two human hitchhikers as well as a mammoth and a stinky sloth, but at least he had the baby. Soto would be pleased. And he could also exercise his abilities to scare others.

"You won't always have Jumbo around to protect you, sloth," he hissed into Sid's ear. "On that day, you better be watching your own back, 'cause I'll be _chewing_ on it."

"Oi! Über-Tracker!" shouted the mammoth. "Up front where I can see you!"

Grinning, Diego loped away.

"Help me!" he heard Sid whimper.

Being a terrifying sabre-tooth tiger was so much fun at times.


	10. Chapter 8: Doom on you!

The unusual gang set out from the human camp just before noon. Diego led the way, followed by Manfred. Sid got to hold Roshan, while Jack Sparrow and Will Turner lagged behind.

For a while after they left, Will kept glancing at Jack Sparrow, then quickly averting his gaze. _'He must've known my father.' _The thought continued to fill his mind. William so wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words to say. He hated this. Awkward silences are so annoying.

After a while, however, the awkward silence was no longer a silence. It was filled with a constant wailing. Roshan the baby was crying.

* * *

"WAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAH!"

Half an hour passed, and the bawling continued to echo across the cold landscape.

"Oh, you've gotta make it stop!" Manfred groaned, covering one ear with his trunk. "I can't take it anymore!"

"I've eaten things that didn't complain this much!" snarled Diego.

"He – won't – stop – squirming!" Sid grunted. Roshan had managed to squirm his way into an upside down position, and his kicking feet continuously pummelled Sid in the mouth.

"Sid!" shouted Manfred. "You're holding it the wrong way!"

"Turn it over!" yelled Diego.

"Watch it's head!"  
"Just put it down!"

"Jeez!" Sid complained. "Pick him up, put him down, turn him over, _ninininininini_!" However, he complied, and lay Roshan down on a conveniently placed rock.

Diego padded over to the screaming baby and sniffed his nose. "Its nose is dry!" he exclaimed.

"That means something's wrong with it," Sid stated.

The sabre looked at Sid. "_Somebody_ should lick it, just in case."

Sid got the message. "Alright, I'll do it."

* * *

Will Turner started. _'That's not right! He's perfectly healthy.' _He stepped forward, ready to help the animals. "Um…"

Jack Sparrow pulled him back.

"Hey!" Will protested. "They need my help. A dry human's nose means it's perfectly fine…"

"They'll figure that out," Jack grinned. "Eventually. They can care for the baby, and we can save Elizabeth, savvy?"

William sighed, and nodded.

Then his face turned serious. "One question about your business, William, or there's no use going. How far are you willing to go to save this girl of yours?"

"I'd die for her," Will growled.

"Oh, good. No problem then."

Will sighed. "But can I still help them?" He gestured to the animals.

"I've got no issues. But if you want to do that, it'll be you alone. I didn't agree to care for a screaming baby."

William nodded. Suddenly, he remembered a possible reason why babies cry.

Sid's tongue had almost reached Roshan's nose, when Will stepped forward. "Hey! You know he's wearing one of those diaper things?"

"_Tho_?" spat Sid, showering Roshan with drops of saliva.

"So…um…" Will turned red, not sure what to say next in a polite way.

Manfred got the message. "What he's trying to say, Sid, is if the baby poops, where does it go?"

Will looked shocked.

* * *

Sid's tongue shot back in his mouth. He started backing away from the baby, looking green in the face. "Humans are _disgusting_!" he moaned.

Manfred poked the sloth with his trunk. "Okay, you. Check for poop."

"Why do I have to be the poop checker?" whined Sid.

The mammoth towered over the sloth. "Because returning the runt was your idea, because you're small and insignificant, and because I'll pummel you if you don't."

"Why else?" Sid whimpered.

"NOW, SID!"

Sid tiptoed carefully away towards Roshan. Screwing up his face, he started to remove the baby's diaper with a shaking hand.

"Ew!" he gasped. "Eww, yuck! Gross! I mean, my goodness!"

Finally, Sid pulled a clean diaper out of a pocket in Roshan's jacket and fitted it onto the baby. Then he wrapped up the other diaper and walked backwards, waving it in the air. "Alright, coming through!"

"Watch out!" Manfred hollered as the diaper swung near his tusk.

Sid slid past Diego, nearly brushing the tiger with the diaper.

"Stop waving that thing around!" the sabre growled.

"Oooh! Oooh!" the sloth shouted. "I'm gonna slip!"

With a cry, he flung the diaper high into the air. It unravelled in mid-air, and came down right between Manfred's eyes.

Manfred screamed.

Sid burst into hysterical laughter.

Bellowing, Manfred threw the diaper onto the ground.

"It's clean!" Sid laughed. "Got you!"

Sure enough, the diaper was clean as a fresh sheet of paper.

Still chuckling, Sid staggered over to Roshan and picked him up.

Manfred bashed Sid on the head. Sid's head flopped to one side and his tongue stuck out.

Roshan stopped crying and burst into laughter.

Everybody looked at him, eyes wide with amazement.

As soon as Sid shook himself out of his daze, Roshan burst into tears again.

"Hey!" Diego exclaimed. "Do that again. He likes it!"

_BAM!_

Sid's tongue lolled out of his mouth again. The baby giggled.

"It's making me better too!" Manfred admitted.

_BAM!_

By now, Sid was quite dizzy from the repeated hitting. He wobbled towards Diego.

"Here, you hold it," he lisped, thrusting Roshan towards the tiger.

_BAM!_

Diego whacked Sid on the head with his paw.

Roshan giggled harder than ever this time. He tried to slap Sid's face with a flabby hand.

"Stop it!" Sid snapped, grabbing Roshan's hand.

"WAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAH!"

* * *

"Oh God, not again!" Will moaned, covering his ears.

Jack looked at him seriously. "Whelp, you'll never make it on board a\ship if you can't cope with loud noises. How loud do you think a cannon is?"

Will took his hands off his ears and gritted his teeth. The pirate was right, though he hated to admit it. There might be a sea battle along the way. _'Who knows what lies ahead?'_

* * *

The sabre-tooth tiger pushed Sid towards the table. "Turn him towards me!" he ordered.

Sid did as he was told. He gently laid Roshan down on the table and backed away.

Diego covered his eyes with his paws.

"Where's the baby?" he cooed.

Suddenly, he uncovered his eyes and leaped towards the baby. "There he is!"

Roshan stopped crying, and stared up at the tiger with frightened eyes.

"Where's the baby?" Diego repeated. "THERE HE IS!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  
"STOP IT!" Manfred bellowed, pushing Diego away from the screaming baby. "You're scaring him!"

* * *

Suddenly, Will had a brainwave. _'If the baby hasn't got a dirty diaper, and he isn't bored, then he must be…hungry!'_

"Hey, guys!" he cried, rushing forward. "I think he must be…"

_Rrrrrrrr!_

Roshan's stomach emitted a loud rumble. The baby stopped crying and looked down at his stomach with surprise.

"I bet he's hungry!" Sid voiced what everybody (except Roshan) had been thinking.

"Most babies drink milk," said Manfred. "We'll need to find some."

"Ooooh! I'd love some too!" cried Sid.

Diego glared at him. "Not you! The baby!"

Sid glared back at the tiger, paws on chubby hips. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly lactating right now, pal!"

"You're too low on the food chain to be mouthing off to a higher predator, aren't you?"

Back and forth, back and forth they bickered.

"I love it when they argue like this," whispered Jack Sparrow to Will.

"ENOUGH!" screamed Manfred. He couldn't take it anymore.

"_Enough!...Enough…nough…" _the echo imitated, rolling across the hills.

Suddenly, there was a rustle from their right.

Everybody looked.

Sitting beside a large bush was a very large, very ripe watermelon.

"FOOD!" everybody shouted.

Manfred walked over to the fruit, trunk stretched out to grab it. Just before he reached it, however…

_BGAWK!_

A dodo leaped out of the bush and grabbed the melon in it's beak. Squawking at the gang a few times, it scampered around a bank and disappeared.

On cue, Roshan burst into tears again.

* * *

Manfred, Diego, and Sid (clutching Roshan) rushed after the dodo. Will and Jack lingered for a moment.

"Should we go after them?" Will asked.

"Wait, wait," Jack Sparrow muttered. He pulled his blue compass off his belt, and tapped it with his finger.

Will tried to peek at the swirling arrow.

'_Bloody nosy parker.'_ Jack held the compass higher.

Finally, the arrow settled in the same direction that the dodo had went.

'_Perfect,'_ Jack Sparrow thought. _'The _Interceptor _is just where I thought it was.'_

"Aye, we'll go after them."

* * *

"_I don't know, but I've been told!"_

_("I don't know, but I've been told!")_

"_End of the world be mighty cold!"_

_("End of the world be mighty cold!")_

The 4th Dodo Marching Corps was at its best since it had been formed a few months previously. Sure, one dodo had a tendency to fall over and get squashed by his comrades, but he was the only one now.

All across the compound, dodos were in training – doing star jumps, navigating obstacle courses, and martial arts. Above the compound, on a dodo-nest perch, stood a corporal and his two motivational speakers.

"Prepare for the Ice Age!" one announced.

"Protect the dodo way of life!" the other cried.

The corporal waved his stick-baton excitedly. "Survival separates the dodos from the beasts!" The baton knocked one of the motivational speakers off the perch.

* * *

Manfred, Sid, Diego, Will, and Jack found themselves looking out over the dodo military camp as the 4th Dodo Marching Corps marched through the camp.

"Protect the Dodo way of life!" shouted a voice. "Prepare for the Ice Age!"

"Ice age?" Sid asked.

Diego snorted. "Dodos. I've heard of these crackpots."

Jack Sparrow, however, had eyes only for the British navy brigantine tied up to a small wharf…the HMS _Interceptor_.

"They took the _Interceptor_ here?" asked Will. "Why not take it with them?"

"Commodore Norrington must want to keep it safe," smiled Jack. "But nothing is safe from Captain Jack Sparrow!"

"You mean you're going to steal that ship?" Sid asked.

"Commandeer. Will and I are going to commandeer that ship. It's a nautical term."

He continued. "I will help you catch up to the humans. Taking the ship is much quicker than on land."

Manfred nodded. "Alright. I want to be rid of the sloth and the baby as soon as possible."

Sid hadn't heard a thing. Roshan was screaming louder than ever.

"Uhhh…Manny? Shouldn't we get that watermelon?" he shouted over the baby's cries.

Manfred sighed. "Yep, let's get going." He turned to Jack and Will. "You do your own thing."

* * *

The collector dodo waddled over to the stock stump and placed the melon next to the other two. He turned to find another melon…

…and he saw them coming over the hill. A woolly mammoth, a sabre tooth tiger, and a sloth clutching a human baby. One thought flashed through his tiny brain: Intruders.

"WAAAAWK!" the dodo shrieked. "INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!" He dashed through the camp, still screaming "INTRUDERS!"

He was so preoccupied that he didn't hear the bubbling ahead of him, or the voice of a lecturer dodo, telling other dodos about the dangers of tar.

"Now don't fall in, for if you do you will most definitely…"

"Intruders! Intru – WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The collector dodo fell into the tar pit. A spout of steam roared up into the air. The student dodos flinched away from the scalding vapour.

"…burn and die," finished the lecturer dodo in a calm voice.

* * *

Manfred, Diego, and Sid continued into the dodo camp.

"Excuse me; can we have our melon back? Junior's hungry." Manfred gestured at Roshan.

"No way!" barked another dodo named Dab. "This is our private stockpile for the ice age!"

He leaped up onto one of the melons. Other dodos gathered around him. "Subarctic temperatures will force us underground for a billion billion years!"

All the other dodos nodded in agreement.

Manfred snorted. "So you'll be underground for ages…and you've got three melons?"

Every dodo eye turned to the three melons.

Suddenly, Jack Sparrow sauntered out of the rocks. "Oi," he said, tapping Dab on the wing. "Is your boat for sale?" He pointed at the _Interceptor_.

"It's a _ship_!" snapped the dodo. "And it's a ship of the Royal navy!"

"Is it for sale then? I've got to get a ship to sail somewhere."

"NO!" snapped the dodo. "If you weren't smart enough to get your melons or ships before the ice age, then _doom on you_!"

"Doom on you!" the dodos chanted, closing in on the group. "Doom on you! Doom on you! Doom on you!"

"Get away from me!" growled Manfred.

Still the dodos marched forwards. "Doom on you! Doom on you!"

Dab was now getting very excited. He flapped his wings as he shouted. "DOOM ON YOU!"

All of a sudden, he lost his balance. "Oh no! Oh no!"

The melon rolled straight into Roshan's waiting arms.

"Retrieve the melon!" blundered Dab. "Tae-kwon-dodos! ATTACK!"

Three dodos leaped up into the air with loud cries of "HIIIIII-YA!"

The dodo in the middle kicked the dodo on the left. The dodo on the right kicked the middle dodo out of the way. Then the dodo on the left kicked the rightmost dodo towards Roshan and Sid. With its strong beak, the dodo flicked the melon out of Roshan's pudgy hands and flung it towards another dodo. He tossed it over his back to the next dodo, who threw it to the next, who threw it…right over the bank and into the river!"

"THE MELON!" screamed the dodo.

A group of dodos dashed towards the bank, and they all tumbled into the river.

"There goes our last female," said Dab to another dodo.

* * *

While all the dodos were distracted by the melon, Jack Sparrow and Will Turner tiptoed around the scene and up the gangplank of the _Interceptor. _

"NOBODY MOVE!" ordered Jack Sparrow. All the remaining dodo's looked up at him. "We are taking the ship!"

"Aye!" growled Will. "And if any one of ya' scurvy featherbags tries to stop us, we'll kill you all! Advast!"

Jack glared at William. "That isn't how pirates actually talk, son."

Dab laughed. "Tae-kwon dodos?"

And a moment later, Jack and Will were nothing but two cyclones of feathers, beaks, feet, and fists.

* * *

While the dodos attacked Captain Sparrow and Turner, Sid snuck over to the stump where the remaining two melons sat. _'This is easy,'_ he thought.

His claw groped around for the melon. Before he could get a grip on it, however, the dodos spotted him. A group of tae-kwon dodos flung themselves at Sid.

Sid instinctively dropped the melon, and it rolled away. The three student dodos chased it over to the tar pit.

The melon rolled up the edge of the pit and flew into the air. The dodos rushed up to the edge of the pit, and standing on tiptoes, caught the melon with the tips of their beaks.

"Got-it-got-it-got-it-got-it…"

They slipped off the edge of the pit.

"…don't got it."

All three dodos tumbled into the tar, closely followed by the watermelon.

* * *

"The last melon!" the dodos all gasped.

They flung themselves at the melon. In the scene of confusion, the melon rolled out of the ball of kicking, flapping dodos. Manfred picked it up with his trunk.

Another group of dodos noticed what he was doing. They raced over to Manfred and started jumping up and down, trying to grab the watermelon. The mammoth merely had to hold the melon high up above his head.

However, Dab watched the whole proceedings from behind Manfred's large behind. Something swinging caught his eye…the mammoth's tail. The dodo sniggered. He wound himself up, leaped up in the air…and bit the tail!

"YEOOOOOOOOW!" wailed Manfred, launching the melon into the air. It flew high into the air. The ball of dodos finally realised what was happening, and chased after it.

So did Sid.

The melon finally started falling towards the ground. It landed on the head of a dodo, knocking him out, and bounced across three more, before landing in Sid's open claws.

'_Yippee!' _Sid thought _'I've got the melon!'_

Then he realised where he was. He was backed up against the far bank of the dodo camp.

Gulping, he looked up.

The scene was not good. The pirate captain and the blacksmith were lying on the ground in front of the _Interceptor_, held to the ground by a dozen dodos each. And Sid could see he was surrounded by a vast blue-grey wall.

It took several seconds for Sid to realise that the wall was actually the dodo army. They surrounded him all across the training grounds. Squadrons of dodos stood on the guard posts, glaring down at him. Every dodo had a menacing gleam in its eye.

Then the sloth looked up to see Manfred, Diego, and Roshan, all looking at him with pleading looks. It was Roshan who looked the most pleading. He let out a whine as he looked at Sid.

That was when Sid realised what this was all about. It was for the baby. And Sid decided he would do _anything _to help this little bundle of joy.

Parental instinct kicked in for the first time.

Sid gritted his teeth, glared back at the dodos…and ran forward, yelling a war cry.

The tidal wave of dodos ran forward too.

Sid smashed into the dodos, using his momentum as a weapon and swinging the watermelon like a club.

Dodos flew into the air and landed hard on the ground. A group of dodos landed on another dodos back, and they tottered around like a pile of clowns in a circus.

Sid continued running, taking great leaping bounds. Unconsciously, he was heading towards the _Interceptor_.

The next scene seemed to happen in slow motion.

Sid barely noticed the ring of dodos heading towards him. He didn't even know what he was doing. Somehow, though, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

He leaped.

The dodos leaped too.

But Sid leaped higher than any of the birds, who banged into each other and knocked each other out.

Sid continued to fly, towards the gangplank of the _Interceptor_, not even caring if he injured himself.

Manfred, Diego, Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Roshan all stared in wonder and horror. Roshan let out a frightened whimper and covered his eyes.

But Sid landed safely. He touched the melon to the planks of the gangplank, like a pro rugby player scoring a try.

The sloth bounced and rolled, clutching the watermelon to his chest. Finally, he came to a stop…

…on the deck of the _Interceptor_.

Roshan uncovered his eyes, realised that Sid and the melon were safe, and lifted his arms in celebration.

Manfred and Diego cheered loudly. Jack and Will whooped and leaped off the ground, throwing off the shocked dodos who were all staring at Sid.

Sid let out a scream of triumph, holding the melon high up in the air.

Dab the dodo let out a groan, and slumped on the ground.

Will watched as Sid boogied and shimmied on the deck of the _Interceptor_. _'Wouldn't you know…the sloth did it! Nobody knew that he had it in him.'_

Finally Sid lifted the melon high in the air…and in his excitement, threw it down on the hard wooden deck.

_SPLAT!_

The melon smashed into pieces.

Manfred and Diego stared at the sloth with angry eyes.

"AAARGH! Sid!" Diego growled. "Now we've gotta find more food!"

"No you don't!" said Will happily. "Look!"

Roshan had untangled himself from Manfred's furry trunk and had crawled up the gangplank. Now he was sitting on the deck of the vessel, chomping happily on mushy pink pieces of watermelon.

Sid looked back at the mammoth and the tiger with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

A voice sounded out behind them. "Right! Right! Right! Now left! No, the other left! Left! Right! Right!"

A tower of dodos wobbled about, searching for more melons. The dodo at the top bellowed out commands. "Left! Right! Left! Left! Left!"

But the dodo at the bottom wasn't very good at steering. He lurched towards the cliff, and lost his balance. The whole dodo tower went tumbling off the cliff.

Manfred snorted. "Look. It's dinner _and_ a show."

Will laughed. "I'll give that species another twenty thousand years. Tops."

Manfred looked down at the blacksmith. "That was the same guess as me. I never asked before, but what's your name?"

"Will. Will Turner."

The mammoth rolled the name around in his mouth. "Will Turner…I like it. Nice strong name."

"Me too," said Sid from on board the _Interceptor_. "It's a good name."

William smiled at these compliments. He was starting to see the beginnings of a lasting friendship with the sloth and the mammoth.


	11. Chapter 9: Ghost Stories

A cool breeze blew across the wide river, propelling the HMS _Interceptor_ through the aqua-water. Her Union Jack flags had been taken down, and replaced with Captain Jack Sparrow's ensign; a skull and crossbones looking up at a red sparrow in the black sky.

'_Not quite the most terrifying of pirate flags,' _Manfred thought, _'but still pretty adequate.'_

He stood on the deck of the ex-navy brig, watching Roshan as he played inside a large bundle of rope. Will Turner had decided this made a nice playpen for the baby, and would keep him out of the way while Will and Jack ran the ship.

And so far, the plan was working. Roshan was not disturbing anybody as he crawled around in the rope-bundle/playpen, pushing a lightweight cannonball in front of him. ("It's the only thing close to a ball we have," Jack had explained)

Manfred looked up to the quarter deck. There they were; the blacksmith and the pirate. Jack Sparrow was steering the _Interceptor_ while Will cleaned his sword.

* * *

"Are you quite sure the sails don't need trimming?" Will asked.

Jack looked down at him. "Son, I've been at sea for many years now. I know exactly how much sail is needed. We're fine, savvy?"

William nodded.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

Finally, Will looked up from his work, and started talking. "When I was a lad, back in Britain, my mother raised me by herself. After she died, I came out here, looking for my father."

"Is that so?" said Jack shrewdly, licking his finger to check the wind direction.

Will stood up. "My father? Bill Turner? It was only after you knew my last name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter." He walked up to the pirate captain. "I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew my father."

Jack sighed, and looked Will straight in the eye. "I knew 'im. Probably one of the few who knew him by the name of William Turner. Everybody else just called him 'Bootstrap', or 'Bootstrap' Bill."

"Bootstrap?"

Jack smiled. "He was a good man. Good pirate. I swear, Will, you look just like him."

'_Pirate? _**_Pirate?_**_' _Will could feel anger building up inside him. Somehow, he sensed that Jack Sparrow was telling the truth. But it couldn't be…it just couldn't be true.

"That's not true!" Will snarled. "My father was a merchant sailor. A respectable, law-abiding man!"

"He was a bloody pirate, a bloody scallywag!" Jack shot back.

"My father was NOT A PIRATE!" Will bellowed, pulling his sword out of its scabbard.

Captain Jack Sparrow laughed, undaunted. "Put it away, son. It's not worth getting beat again."

"You didn't beat me," growled William, shaking with fury. "You ignored the rules of fair engagement. I could kill you in a fair fight."

"Well then, there's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?" Jack smiled. Suddenly, he turned the ships wheel hard over starboard.

The boom of the _Interceptor_ swung around. The next thing he knew, Will found himself dangling above the frigid water, clinging to the ships boom.

Jack Sparrow picked up Will's sword and pointed it at its owner. "Now," he barked, "as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention!"

Will was fully focused on the pirate's words.

"The only rules that really matter," continued Captain Jack, "are these: what a man can do, and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood boy, so you'll have to square with that someday."

He sauntered over to the wheel. "Take me for another example. I could let you drown! But I can't sail this ship all by me onesies, savvy?"

Quick as a flash, Jack turned the wheel over to port. The boom swung back over the quarterdeck, depositing Will Turner at Jack Sparrow's feet.

Jack walked over to Will, and held the sword at his neck. "Can you sail under the command of a pirate? Or can you not?"

Unexpectedly, Jack flipped the sword over, offering the hilt to Will.

"Perhaps I can." Will took the sword from Jack, and sheathed it.

* * *

Jack Sparrow smiled. His persuasion skills were still very good, even with a hard-headed man like this one.

He swaggered back over to the wheel, and turned the ship a couple of degrees port.

Will looked towards the bow of the _Interceptor_, sheltering his eyes from the setting sun.

"Where are we headed?" he asked.

"The tar pits. I've got an old mate there who could help me rustle up a crew."

"The tar pits?" said a spitty, interested voice.

Jack Sparrow looked down to see Sid the sloth, looking up at him with bright eyes.

"What's gotten you so interested, Sid?" asked Jack Sparrow.

"Nothing," said Sid quickly, turning slightly pink behind his messy fur. He rushed over to a bucket of water and started flattening the fur on his head, checking his reflection in the water.

Will turned back to Jack. "Rustle up a crew…do people live at the tar pits?"

"Not just people, son. Pirates. I know a few of the pirates that live there. They'll probably sign up for an adventure. I know their type."

"We can probably camp there for the night," suggested Will.

"Probably right for that lot." Jack nodded at Manfred, Diego, Sid, and Roshan, down on the main deck. Manfred was watching Roshan, Diego was lounging in the sun, and Sid was slumped over the railing, green in the face.

"Fourth time he's been sick since we set off," grumbled Will Turner in a disgusted tone.

* * *

"And now to find a meal befitting a conquering hero!" Sid lisped to himself.

After the gang had anchored the _Interceptor _just off the coast, Sid had been the first off the ship, kissing the ground. He definitely knew that at sea wasn't his place.

Now he was searching for his dinner, partially because he knew he deserved it, what with saving the melon and getting the Interceptor, and partially because he had been seasick on most of the journey.

Sid pushed aside a branch as he continued his search for food. It snapped back, whipping the sloth in the back of the head.

Sid glared around at the tree the branch was attached to. "What ho? A foe! Come on, come on! You want a piece of me?"

The sloth raised his arms and assumed a kung-fu crane stance. "HOOOOOIIIII-YAAAAAA!" He plunged his paw into the tree…and felt something small, round and hard.

Sid tightened his grip on the object, and pulled out a small acorn.

"Spoils worthy of such a noble…" Sid gushed, and tossed the acorn into his mouth.

Before he could swallow it, however, a screaming blur came flying out of the shadows. It forced open Sid's mouth, grabbed the acorn, and stomped off, growling angrily.

* * *

_Scrat was furious. How dare that stupid big sloth steal his acorn! Oh well, it was probably his fault anyway. He would have to find a safer place to bury his precious nut now._

* * *

"Ouch…" Sid groaned as he watched the fluffy squirrel tail disappear into the darkness. "Stupid squirrel." It was a pity that he had lost the acorn to the squirrel, but there

were always other foods…

Like those still-green birch leaves over there! _'Mmm! I love birch leaves!' _The sloth waddled over to the tree and started eating.

* * *

Will Turner followed Jack Sparrow between the rocky outcroppings and tar pits. He had no idea where the pirate was taking him. He was also unsure why the pirate was carrying a bucket of water.

"What's the water for?" Will asked.

"Shhhhh," Jack shushed. "You hear that?"

A loud snoring was coming from behind another boulder. Smiling, the pirate tiptoed around the boulder. Will followed him.

Propped up against the rock, clutching a small, ragged teddy bear, was a dirty grey-bearded man in a filthy bosun's uniform.

Jack lifted the bucket over the man's head and showered him with water.

Quick as a flash, the man woke up, eyes wild with anger.

"CURSE YA FOR BREATHIN', YA SLACK JAWED IDIOT!" he shouted, pulling out a dagger with a shaking hand.

Jack pressed the bucket onto Will and stepped forward.

The man's expression softened. "Mother's love. Jack!" he smiled, putting away his knife. "You should know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping. It's bad luck."

"Ah!" said Jack Sparrow happily. "But, Mr Gibbs, I know how to counter that sort of bad luck. The man who did the waking pours the man who was sleeping a drink." He shook a large gourd attached to his belt, which emitted a sloshing sound. "And while the man who was sleeping is drinking, he listens to a proposition from the man who did the waking. Savvy?"

Will had watched this Mr Gibbs as Jack had talked. Mr Gibbs had been looking quite confused…up to the point where Jack had mentioned drinking.

"Aye! That'll about do it!" nodded Mr Gibbs, and he let Captain Jack pull him to his feet.

All of a sudden, Will threw the rest of the water over Jack's first mate.

"BLAST! I'M ALREADY AWAKE!" bellowed Mr Gibbs, blinking the water out of his eyes.

"That one was for the smell," explained Will.

* * *

Jack Sparrow and Mr Gibbs sat down against a cliff. Gibbs produced two mugs from his bag, and, true to his word, Jack poured them both some rum.

"So, tell me," Joshamee said to his captain. "What's the nature of this venture of your'n?" He took a sip of his rum.

"I'm going after the _Black Pearl_," explained Jack simply.

Gibbs choked on his drink.

"Jack!" he spluttered. "It's a fools errand."

"But this time, I know exactly where it's gonna be, and I'm gonna take it."

Joshamee shook his head. "You know better than me the tales of the _Black Pearl_."

"That's why I know what Barbossa is up to. All I need is a crew, and that's where you come in, Mr Gibbs."

"What I hear tell of Captain Barbossa," Gibbs muttered, "is that he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike any bargain with one."

"Good thing I'm not a fool, then," smiled Jack.

"Prove me wrong!" Gibbs exclaimed. "What makes you think Barbossa will hand his ship back over to you?"

"Let's just say it's a matter of _leverage_, eh?" Captain Jack smirked.

* * *

Will heard the word 'leverage' carry across from where Jack and Gibbs were sitting. He glanced over at the two pirates, then, trying not to get caught eavesdropping, assumed his normal position again. However, he kept his ears peeled, and watched the pair out of the corner of his eye.

Gibbs was looking blankly at Jack Sparrow again. Jack gestured with his head at Will.

His companion continued to stare questioningly into Jack's mysterious brown eyes.

Jack nodded again at Will. Gibbs glanced across at the young blacksmith.

"The kid?" he asked.

"Now that is the _only_ son of Bootstrap Bill Turner. Savvy?"

Joshamee Gibb's eyes widened. Slowly, a smile formed across his scraggly bearded face.

"Is he now?" he murmured. "Leverage says you. I feel a change in the winds, says I. I'll find us a crew, Captain. There's lots of crazy pirates living at the Tar Pits. They'd have to be nuts as you to brave the cold. I'll whip you up a crew before dawn."

Smiling, Captain Jack Sparrow lifted his tankard. "Take what you can!" he shouted extravagantly.

"Give nothin' back!" replied Gibbs, and they slammed their mugs together and drank deeply.

* * *

"Bedtime, squirt," said Manfred happily, picking up Roshan from a rock and curling the baby into his trunk. Within moments, the baby was asleep.

It had been a very strange day. Picking up a Paleo-Indian baby, a pirate, a blacksmith, and a sabre tooth tiger was definitely not normal.

That sabre, though…he didn't trust that sabre. There was something not right about the tiger. The mammoth glanced over at the tiger.

Diego was sound asleep, lying across the campsite.

Sighing, Manfred was just about to drift off to sleep, when he heard a rustling from nearby.

Sid the sloth waddled across the camp, patting his stomach contentedly.

"Ah, the triumphant return," said Manfred sarcasticly.

Sid looked around wildly, not realising that the mammoth was actually talking to him. "Huh? Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm so full."

The sloth meandered over to a small rock against the cliff wall, and started patting it down as if it were a soft bed. "You know what, Manny?"

"No."

"Those two humans, Will and Jack, they're going to whip up a crew before dawn. Something like that."

"Why is that important, Sid?"

"No reason." Sid finished patting his rock. "Now, how about a good-night kiss for your big buddy Sid?"

"Shhhhhh!" Manfred hissed. "The baby's asleep."

"No, Manny. I was talking to you," Sid smiled.

"No way," grunted the mammoth.

Sid sniffed, offended. "Fine. I'll tuck myself in then."

He stretched, lay down on his rock, and looked up at Manfred. "Alright," he yawned. "Goodnight."

The sloth's head tipped back and he fell silent.

Then he turned over.

Then he started humming to himself, tossing from side to side, and then onto his back.

'_How long is this going to go on for?'_ Manfred thought for himself.

"Na! Na, na, na, na." Sid muttered to himself, kicking his foot in the air. Then he flipped over, yawning contentedly.

Manfred had had enough.

"WILL YOU BE QUIET!" he bellowed.

Sid woke up in a flash, and blinked at the mammoth.

"Alright, alright," he groaned. "I was just trying to relax."

The sloth settled down again. He curled in a ball…and started sucking his thumb noisily.

"Oi." Manfred muttered, but the sloth was fast asleep already.

The mammoth took one last glance at the sabre, then, slowly, his eyes closed too.

* * *

Diego watched through his eyelids as Manfred's eyes shut tight. _'Perfect. Time to start Operation Baby Capture.'_

His eyes flicked wide open. In the darkness, they glowed a creepy shade of green.

The sabre stalked over to the mammoth, flicked out his claws, and was just about to grab the baby when…

_Rustle, rustle, rustle_

Diego looked around for the source of the sound. Nothing there.

Had he imagined it? The only sound he could hear now was the sloth's loud snoring.

Diego tried again. He reached towards the baby…

_Rustle, rustle, rustle_

The mammoth snorted in his sleep, and tightened his trunk around Roshan. Now it was impossible for Diego to get the baby out of the mammoth's tight grip.

The tiger growled angrily. Whoever had made that rustling noise would pay for it.

_Rustle, rustle_

Diego looked around. The bushes at the top of a bank were moving slightly. Someone was behind it, possibly the someone who had made the rustling noise.

The sabre crouched down, flattened his ears…and leaped.

Roaring, he flew over the crest of the bank, and came down upon the other creature. He pinned it to the ground, lifted his paw to deliver the killing swipe…and recognised the other animal.

"What the…Zeke?!"

"Go ahead, slice me," sneered Zeke, Diego's scrawny comrade. "It'll be the last thing you ever do!"

"I'm working here, you waste of fur!" Diego snarled.

"Frustrated, Diego?" leered another voice.

Diego looked to see Oscar standing in front of him, looking coolly at him. "Is tracking down helpless infants too hard for you?"

The sabre tooth tiger looked at his two pack-mates. "What are you two doing here?"

"Soto's getting tired of waiting."

"Yeah!" Zeke laughed. "He said, 'come back with the baby, or don't come back at all!' Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"Message received," shot back Diego. "And you can give Soto this message. I'm not only bringing the baby…I'm also bringing two humans, and a mammoth."

"A mammoth?!" yelped Zeke excitedly.

"Mammoths never travel alone!" growled Oscar.

"This one does," said Diego, leading Zeke and Oscar to the edge of the bank, so they could see Manfred slumbering peacefully. "I'm leading them to Half Peak."

Zeke was now shaking with hunger. "Mmmmm…look at all that juicy meat. Let's get him!"

"Not yet!" growled Diego. "Haven't you forgotten we still have the curse on us? Once the curse is lifted, we'll need the entire pack to take this mammoth down. Get everybody ready!"

Zeke and Oscar lingered for a moment, staring at their superior like he had gone mad.

"NOW!" ordered Diego.

Zeke ran off, short bob tail between his legs. Oscar glared at Diego for a moment, before he too loped off into the distance.

Sighing, the sabre walked down the embankment and back into the camp. He laid back down where he had been laying before, and settled in for the night.

Above him, a blue full moon was glowing in a clear sky.

* * *

Somewhere along the wide river leading north, a pitch black ship with tattered sails coasted through the water, illuminated by the light from a waxing moon, and shrouded by an accompanying cloud of fog. This eerie, supernatural fog followed the vessel wherever she went.

The _Black Pearl_ was dark all over…save for the lights in the grand rear cabins.

* * *

Elizabeth Swann stood in her cabin and watched the ornate oil lamps hanging from the ceiling swing to and fro. She didn't really care much for the decorations, though. She almost preferred a dark damp brig cell to a beautiful cabin.

Suddenly, Elizabeth heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Pintel and Ragetti walking into her cabin, Pintel bearing a pretty red dress.

"You'll be dinin' with the captain and the sabre pack leader tonight," he grunted, "and they request you to wear this." The bearded pirate thrust the dress towards her.

"Well," shot back Elizabeth coldly, "you may tell your captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request."

Pintel sniggered.

"He said you'd say that," he grinned. "He also said if that be the case, you'll be dinin' with the crew…and you'll be _naked_."

Ragetti burst into a fit of giggling.

Elizabeth was shocked. What could be worse than dining with a rough crew of evil pirates _in the nude_?

'_Best be dining with one evil pirate and one evil in clothes instead,'_ Elizabeth thought, and she snatched the dress out of Pintel's hands, and tucked it under her arm.

"Fine," growled Pintel.

* * *

Soon, Elizabeth was dressed, and seated in the captain's cabin in front of a large table. Dozens of pirates walked in from the deck, carrying platters of fruit, fish, bread, meat, even a stuffed boar with an apple in its mouth. Candles were lit. Another pirate poured wine into golden goblets. It was a meal fit for a king.

Captain Barbossa entered his cabin, and sat down at the head of the table. Soto loped in beside him and leaped up onto a large stool, so he was level with Barbossa and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth picked up a golden fork and knife with shaking hands, and daintily started picking out small bits of meat from the boar. Soto and Captain Barbossa, however, didn't touch a thing, and only watched Elizabeth eat.

Hector Barbossa chuckled. "There's no need to stand on ceremony, miss, no need to impress anybody."

"You must be hungry," said Soto from across the table.

'_Fine, then,' _thought Elizabeth. Dropping her fork, she picked up a whole leg of boar and started ripping large chunks of pork from the bone.

Barbossa and Soto still didn't eat.

As soon as she had finished her mouthful of pork, Elizabeth grabbed two slices of French bread and shoved them into her mouth.

She heard the sound of liquid being poured. "Try the wine," Barbossa suggested, pushing one of the gold goblets towards her, now full to the brim with rich red wine.

Elizabeth grabbed the goblet with both hands and drank deeply.

Hector Barbossa picked up something else from another platter. "An' the apples. One of those next."

Elizabeth stopped. She felt suspicious. She looked around towards the chair next to her, to see the monkey watching her closely with its big beady eyes.

"It's poison," she whispered, pulling away from the green fruit.

An awful laugh came from Soto's place on the table.

"You read too many fairy tales, Miss Turner!" the sabre-tooth tiger sneered. "There's no sense in killing you at all."

"Then release me!" Elizabeth demanded. "You have your trinket. I'm of no further value to you!"

In response, Barbossa pulled something out of his jacket. It was the pirate medallion. The gold skull face glistened in the candlelight.

"You don't know what this is, do you?" Hector Barbossa croaked.

"It's a pirate medallion."

"Wrong," Soto said from across the table. "That is Aztec Gold. To be precise, one of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortés himself. It was blood money, paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his massive armies."

"But," Barbossa cut in, "the greed of Cortés was insatiable. So the heathen gods…placed upon the gold…a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished…punished for eternity."

Elizabeth let out a cold laugh. "I hardly believe in ghost stories, Captain Barbossa, not anymore."

"Aye!" barked Hector Barbossa. "That's what I thought too, when I was first told the tale. Buried in the caves of an extinct volcano what cannot be found, 'cept for those who know where it is." His voice turned bitter. "Find it, we did."

* * *

Soto listened eagerly to Captain Barbossa's story. Although he had heard the tale many times before, he was still excited by it every time; excited by the fact that it said the curse could be undone.

"There be the chest," croaked Barbossa. "Inside, there be the gold. And we took 'em all!"

After the Paleo-Indian tribe had killed off half his pack, he had travelled back to Half Peak, his pack's base. While exploring the caverns inside with Diego, Lenny, Oscar, and Zeke, he had stumbled upon the stone chest of Cortés. When they crossed the chest, one gold medallion caught on each sabre's claw. The gold medallions were dragged away by the tigers and lost. They became cursed.

At first, Soto thought being undead was quite a good thing. He was now immortal, so he had thought. Nothing could stop him from getting his revenge on the humans.

But soon, things turned sour.

"We spent those medallions, and traded 'em, and frittered 'em away on drink and food and pleasurable company. But the more we spent those coins…the more we came to realise…the drink would not satisfy…food turned to ash in our mouths…and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust."

Soto remembered his first hunt after becoming cursed. He had taken on a large male deer in the prime of his life, killed it easily…but when he took his first bite of meat, it had no flavour, no juicy tenderness…and when he swallowed, his stomach was not satisfied at all.

Not long after that, he returned to Half Peak, and met the pirates. Captain Barbossa had been sympathetic, and told him that they too were cursed.

The sabre-tooth tigers managed to find four of the five medallions they had unwillingly taken from the chest, and return them. However, one had still been missing.

Soto had been told the story. The medallion had been picked up by an un-cursed member of the _Black Pearl_'s crew; Bootstrap Bill Turner. He had sent it off somewhere, before the cursed pirates killed him.

"We are cursed men, Miss Turner! Compelled by greed, we were, but now…we are _consumed_ by it!"

The monkey started jumping up and down on its perch, screeching excitedly.

Barbossa got up, and started stroking the monkey tenderly. Out of the corner of his eye, Soto saw Elizabeth slip a knife into her hand.

He decided not to warn Barbossa. _'There's no harm that can be done to us. That's one good thing about this curse.'_

"There is one way to end our curse," Barbossa whispered, and Soto's heart leaped again. "All the scattered pieces of the Aztec gold must be restored, and the blood repaid. The blood of a descendent of Bootstrap Bill Turner."  
This part of the legend, Soto had decided not to tell to Zeke, Oscar, and Lenny. They were too excitable, too eager to be told. They might do something stupid, like go chasing after Bootstrap's child themselves.

He had intended to tell Diego, the only one he trusted, only that Diego was out bringing the baby back to Half Peak. The baby, _and _a mammoth, _and_ two adult humans. That was excellent news to the sabre's ears.

* * *

Barbossa grinned down at Elizabeth Swann. "Thanks to ye, we have the final piece."

He handed the monkey the gold medallion. The monkey screeched happily, leaped off its perch, and raced across the floor and out of sight.

"And…the blood to be repaid?" asked Elizabeth nervously.

"That's why there be no sense in killin' you, Miss Turner. Yet." Soto smiled evilly from across the table.

Elizabeth's eyes widened. These pirates and sabres were mad! They were going to kill her!

"Apple?" asked Barbossa, picking up a green apple from the table and extending it towards her.

Not missing a beat, Elizabeth whacked the apple out of Barbossa's hands. She pulled the knife from under the folds of her dress, leaped towards the sabre tooth tiger…and flung the knife deep into his chest.

No blood leaked from the wound. Soto didn't gasp with pain.

Elizabeth gasped with shock.

Soto pulled the knife out of his chest with one paw. The metal was still clean.

"I'm curious!" he laughed. "After killing both of us, what did you intend to do next?"

With a cry, Elizabeth turned and ran. She opened the doors, stepped out onto the deck, closed the doors, and turned around to see…

Skeletons.

Ghastly skeletons in tattered clothing, glowing blue in the moonlight, flesh hanging from their bones.

They were everywhere. Pulling the sheet lines, turning the capstan, cleaning the deck.

Elizabeth screamed.

Suddenly, she was caught up in the rotating rods of the capstan, skeleton pirates surrounding her. Still screaming, she tripped over a plank and fell into the cargo hold.

Elizabeth landed on something. Her frightened, confused brain only had enough time to recognise that something as canvas before the canvas was stretched, and she flew up into the air.

Again and again, the pirates flung Elizabeth up into the air, using the canvas like a trampoline. The frightened woman wailed with fear.

Just before she dropped towards the canvas for the third time, she was caught in midair by a skeleton pirate swinging on a rope. Elizabeth could actually feel his bones. She screamed again.

The pirate threw her off. Elizabeth landed hard on the quarterdeck. She got up on shaking legs.

Suddenly, three more skeletons climbed the stairs and surrounded her. Only they weren't human skeletons.

They were sabre-tooth tiger skeletons. The skeletons of Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke.

Elizabeth screamed louder than ever.

Zeke laughed insanely, and galloped towards the woman.

Elizabeth rushed around the side of the large ships wheel. Zeke leaped onto the other side.

As soon as he was directly in line with the wheel, Elizabeth grabbed a handle and pulled.

The wheel rotated, snapping Zeke's head backwards.

Gurgling, the sabre shook his head hard. With an awful cracking sound, his head snapped back to its original position.

The tiger growled again.

Elizabeth took off, down the stairs onto the main deck, and hid under them.

All of a sudden, the cursed monkey swung down beside her.

"_RAAAAWK!" _it shrieked.

Elizabeth screamed, and rushed out from under the stairs…and into Barbossa.

"Look!" barked Barbossa, turned Elizabeth around to show her the tattered sails of the _Black Pearl_, and the skeleton figures of her crew, who had stopped their work to watch the confrontation.

"The moonlight shows us for what we _really_ are!" said Soto loudly. "We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we really dead!"

Hector Barbossa whipped Elizabeth around again to face him. There was anguish in his face.

He snarled. "Too long I've been dying of thirst, but unable to quench it."

"Too long I've been starving to death, but haven't died!" Soto continued.

"I feel nothing!" moaned Barbossa. "Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea…nor the warmth of a woman's flesh."

As he said this, Barbossa extended his hand into the moonlight. In front of Elizabeth's eyes, the skin rotted away, leaving nothing but rags of clothes and bone.

"You said earlier," grinned Soto, as he loped into the moonlight, "that you don't believe in ghost stories."

Barbossa and Soto now walked side by side, and Elizabeth watched in horror as they both transformed into hideous skeletons.

"Well, you best start believin' in them!" growled Hector Barbossa. "YOU'RE IN ONE!"


	12. Chapter 10: The Mud Pools

Elizabeth stared, horrified, as Barbossa picked up a bottle of rum with his skeleton hand. He pulled out the cork with his teeth, spat it out, and then poured the liquid into his open mouth. The red liquid splattered across his ribs, just like blood.

Elizabeth had taken enough. She dashed past the skeleton pirate captain and back into the cabin. Behind her, she heard the rum bottle smash against the wood, the doors slam shut, and the horrible laughter of the crew of pirates.

Hunching against a chest of drawers in Barbossa's cabin, Elizabeth whimpered in fright. Sleep would not come very easily to her that night.

* * *

Slowly, the sun rose across the cold landscape. It rose across the approaching glaciers and snow, it rose over the river, and it rose over the ruins of the fortress.

And it also rose on a stirring woolly mammoth.

* * *

Manfred yawned quietly. He had been having strange dreams that night, about skeletons and ghostly ships in the fog. _'But then again, everybody has strange dreams. Once, I had a dream about the world being dominated by humans! That'll never happen.'_

He shifted his trunk sleepily, trying to feel Roshan.

The baby wasn't there!

Manfred woke up with a start. His brain worked quickly. _'Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, they're off to get a crew with that new human.'_ His suspicion quickly turned to the sabre-tooth tiger. _'I don't trust him at all. If he laid a claw on that baby…'_

* * *

_STOMP! STOMP!  
_Diego woke up to two huge footsteps. Jumping up, he saw Manfred the mammoth glaring down at him.

"Where's the baby?" Manfred demanded.

"You lost it?" Diego yelled back.

Manfred blinked, realising that Diego was innocent. _'Then who…?'_

Both animals looked to Sid's empty rock, and came to the same conclusion at the same time.

"SID!"

* * *

"Ooh, isn't it ugly?" said Rachel, a thin, blonde, attractive female sloth, as she stroked Roshan's fat cheek. "Positively adorable!"

"Hello, pumpkin pie!" cooed Jennifer, a thickset, dark-furred sloth. "Hello, little baldy bean!"

Sid was revelling in the attention he was receiving from the two beautiful lady sloths. He wasn't normally a very popular guy, but now that he had the baby…he was like the sloth king!

"Where did you get it?" asked Rachel, her blonde hair bobbing as she leaned towards Sid.

The male sloth put on a dramatic face and tone of voice. "Ah, the poor kid, all alone in the wild. Sabres were closing in on him…so I just dove in and _snatched_ him up!"

"Oh, how brave!" sighed Jennifer in an admiring voice.

"Well, he needed me," sighed Sid, acting flirty, "and I only wish I had one of my own, too…"

"Really?" gasped Rachel. "You know, I find that attractive in a male!"

"Who wouldn't want a family? That's what I always say," Sid added.

"Where have you been hiding?" asked Jennifer, touching the male sloth on the shoulder.

Sid blushed. "Well…you know…"

Suddenly, Roshan slipped under the mud. Gasping, Sid groped around in the hot mud and lifted the baby, now coated in brown mud, back onto his lap.

Roshan squealed happily, and splashed Sid in the face with mud.

"Cute kid, huh?" the sloth spluttered. He reached down out of the mud pool, felt around for something to wipe his face with, and grabbed a sturdy mammoth's trunk. He used the furry trunk to wipe the mud off his face. "So, as I was saying, ladies…"

Suddenly he realised who the trunk belonged to. The sloth looked up to see Manfred glaring down at him.

"Oh, hey! Uh…hey, Manny!"

Manfred shook the mud off his trunk. "What is wrong with you?" he growled, picking Roshan off Sid's lap and carrying the muddy baby away.

Sid started out of the pool. "Excuse me, ladies. You keep marinating in there, and I'll be right back."

The male sloth finally flopped out of the pool. With a final flirty whisper of "sexy," he dashed after the mammoth.

* * *

Jennifer looked at Rachel. "You know, he's not much to look at, but it's so hard to find a family guy like that."

"Tell me about it," Rachel replied. "All the sensitive ones get eaten."

* * *

"Feast your eyes, Captain!" Joshamee Gibbs announced, waving a hand at the rag-tag group of pirates. "All of 'em faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt, and crazy to boot.

Will looked at the pirates, leaning against the walls of the mud pools. Each and every one was different. One was a tall black man wearing only some tar-coated sailor's pants. Another was a scruffy man with a grey birds-nest beard. One man, with a curly goatee, only came up to Will's thigh.

"So this is your able bodied crew?" Will asked uncertainly to Jack.

Captain Jack Sparrow didn't seem to hear him. He was looking each crew member up and down, muttering to himself.

Finally, he came to an old man in a faded purple bandanna, with a bright blue parrot on his shoulder.

"You, sailor!" Jack barked.

"Cotton, sir. Mr Cotton," Gibbs corrected.

"Mr Cotton," Jack continued, "do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay trim in danger and almost certain death?"

Cotton didn't reply.

"Mr Cotton! Answer, man!"

"He's…he's a mute, sir," sighed Gibbs. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out some years back."

Cotton opened his mouth wide to reveal several dirty teeth…and only the back of the tongue.

"He's trained the parrot to talk for him, though," Gibbs continued. "No-one's yet figured how."

Jack Sparrow turned to the parrot. "Mr Cotton's parrot…same question."

"_AWK! Wind in your sails, wind in your sails! AWK!"_ the parrot squawked.

"Mostly, we figure that means 'yes'," Mr Gibbs explained.

"Course it does," muttered Jack. Then he turned to Will. "See that?"

"Well, it proves they're all mad," whispered Will back.

* * *

Suddenly, an all too familiar voice called out from the end of the long line. "What's in it for us?"

It was a woman's voice!

Jack looked around to the end of the line. He could see a blurred silhouette in the steam of a hot mud pool. The pirate slowly stepped closer to the steamy spa, until finally he could see the person.

The person wore a large leather hat, covering their face and masking their identity. However, there was something familiar about the person.

Carefully, Captain Jack Sparrow lifted the hat up and off the face of a dark haired, brown-eyed woman…

"Anamaria," Jack grinned.

Anamaria lifted a mud-soaked hand out of the mud pool and slapped Jack on the face. Hard.

_WHAP!_

"I suppose you didn't deserve that?" Will smirked.

"No. That one, I deserved," Jack mumbled, shaking the mud off his cheek.

"You stole my boat!" snarled Anamaria, glaring angrily at the pirate captain.

"Actually..."

_WHAP!_

"…actually, I borrowed," continued Jack, rubbing his aching cheek. "Borrowed, without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back!"

"But you did _not_!"

"You'll get another one!" said Jack hurriedly, not wanting to get slapped again.

"I will!" snapped Anamaria, brandishing her hand threating.

Will Turner stepped to Jack's side. "A better one!" he added helpfully.

"A _better_ one!" repeated Jack Sparrow happily.

"That one!" Will pointed at the _Interceptor_, tied up at the bank.

Jack whipped around to face Will. "What one?"

William merely inclined his head at the ex-navy brig.

"That one?" snapped Jack Sparrow to Will Turner. Will nodded.

Everybody looked from the _Interceptor _back to Jack and Anamaria.

Finally, Jack smiled at Anamaria. "Aye! That one! What say you to that?"

"Aye!" shouted Anamaria.

"AYE!" chorused the rest of the crew, and they all trooped towards their new ship. Cotton's parrot screeched, "_Weigh the anchor!" _as they went.

Anamaria stood up, and climbed out of the mud pool. Shaking the mud out of her clothes, she followed the rest of the motley crew. As she passed Jack, she raised her hand to slap him.

Jack flinched back.

Anamaria laughed, and used her hand to put her hat back on.

Mr Gibbs hurried up to Jack Sparrow. "No, no, no, no, no! Its frightful bad luck to bring a woman on board, sir!"

"Worse luck not to bring her," Jack muttered. "Worse luck to bring a baby, a sabre, a sloth, and a mammoth."

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Will asked.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait! Manny!" Sid yelled as he raced after the mammoth. He skidded to a stop in front of him. "Manny, please, I'm begging you! I need him!"

Manfred snorted. "What, a good looking guy like you?"

Sid could sense the sarcasm in the mammoth's voice. "You say that, but you don't really mean it, do you?"

"No, no, I'm serious. Those poor ladies. They don't stand a chance."

'_He's teasing me,' _Sid thought angrily. "You have a cruel sense of humour, do you know that?"

"Hey!" Manfred laughed. "Don't let me cramp your style!"

Sid took it the wrong way. He snatched Roshan out of Manfred's trunk. "Thanks Manny. You're the best!"  
"Without Pinky!" Manfred grunted, snatching Roshan back from Sid's arms and stomping off in the opposite direction.

"No, Manny, wait! I need him!" Sid cried, but it was too late.

'_Aw, fine. I can just do it by myself,' _the sloth thought. _'In fact, I can think of some good things to say!'_

Feeling giddy with luck, Sid skipped back to the mud pool, unaware that he was heading the wrong way. He smoothed down his fur and hopped back into the mud. "So, ladies," he lisped. "Where were we?"

Suddenly, two large shapes materialised out of the mist. They were too large to be the two sloth ladies. _'This can't be good.'_

"Carl?" growled a voice.

"Easy, Frank," sneered another.

Then the rhino heads of Carl and Frank emerged out of the steam.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Sid screamed.

* * *

"So a pretty tail walks by, and suddenly that sloth moves like a cheetah!" Manfred commented as he walked along with Roshan in his trunk. "And that sabre. Yeah, super-tracker can't even track a sloth. You'd think it would be pretty easy."

The mammoth placed the baby on the branch of a nearby tree.

Roshan cooed happily, waving his arms about at Manfred.

"What am I, the wet nurse?" Manfred complained. "What are you looking at, bone bag?"

He snorted. "Look at you, kid. You're going to grow up to be a terrifying predator. Ha! I don't think so! All you've got is a tuft of fur on your hair," (Manfred pulled Roshan's short black hair), "no fangs, no claws," (he looked inside Roshan's toothless mouth and at his fingernails) "so all you are is folds of skin wrapped in mush. What's so threatening about you?"

* * *

Roshan watched this creature's big brown trunk wave back and forth in front of his eyes. He thought it was very interesting and funny. He reached up with his arms and grabbed the trunk.

It felt very much like his mother's warm robes, when she had been hugging him. He held on tight to the trunk, eyes closed and a smile on his face.

* * *

As Roshan hugged Manfred's trunk, the mammoth remembered something. The happiest memories of his life so far. And also, now, the saddest.

Tears welled up in the mammoth's eyes, as he remembered the scene. Then, quickly, he shook himself out of his daze.

"Hey, do you think this is the petting zoo, huh?"

Roshan slipped off Manfred's trunk and plopped back down onto the tree…pulling out some of the mammoth's trunk hairs as well.

"Ow!" Manfred yelped.

He glared at the baby. "Alright, wise guy. You just earned yourself a time out!"

The mammoth picked up Roshan with his trunk and placed him higher up on the tree. The baby toppled upside down.

But Roshan was not alarmed. In fact, he loved this new perspective of the world. He giggled excitedly.

"Oh, so you think that's funny?" Manfred growled, but the anger had gone out of his voice now. Still, he picked up the baby again, and placed him on the highest branch of the tree. "You'll be a little snack for the owls."

Roshan continued to laugh, clapping his hands happily as the branch bent up and down.

Manfred couldn't help but smile. _'Babies. Innocent, cute little things, with no sense of danger at all. I like this kid.'_

"You're a brave little squirt. I'll give you that."

* * *

Sid dashed away from the rumbling of the rhino's footsteps. _'Why, oh why do these things always happen to me?' _he asked himself in his head.

The sloth sprinted around a mesa…and almost ran into Diego.

"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness," Sid gasped.

"Where's the baby?" the sabre demanded.

"He's fine, Manfred's got him. Now, please, Diego, put me in your mouth!"

Quickly, Sid put on a frightened expression. "Oh noooooo! A tiger! HELP! HELP!"

"Why do I want to do that?" Diego asked suspiciously.

"Pretend you're mauling me to death. Come on, roar, kitty cat! Roar!"

"_Meow," _said the sabre in a bored voice.

"Come on, Diego!" pleaded the sloth. Then he turned dramatic again. "Oooooooh! He got me! Ohhhhhh, help!"

The sabre-tooth tiger snarled. "Get away from me!" Then he turned and loped off.

Sid looked towards the mesa. He could now hear the rhino's angry voices, yelling, "We're coming for you, sloth!"

There was now no other option. Sid rushed after Diego and kicked his left back leg. Very hard.

"_ROOOAR!"_

Diego growled, and lunged towards Sid.

* * *

Then Carl and Frank raced around the corner and screeched to a stop.

Sid played dead, turning limp in Diego's jaws.

One of the rhino's moaned. "Awwww! Carl! The tiger beat us to him!"

But Diego could see that Carl was suspicious. "Wait a minute, Frank."

The large rhino stomped towards the sabre. Diego flinched away slightly. _'If they find out he's still alive…I'll be trampled…and the curse doesn't stop pain.'_

_Sniff…sniff sniff…_

"Uuugh!" the rhino growled. "He's dead alright." Carl turned around and headed back around the mesa with Frank.

"Carnivores have all the fun!" Frank shouted in annoyance as the rhinos disappeared around the cliff.

Sid slowly lifted his head. "Gosh, I hate hurting their feelings like that, but you know how it is."

He tried to pull his head out of Diego's jaws. But Diego was not letting go. _'You kicked my back leg, sloth. You'll have to pay!'_

"Okay, Diego, you can let me go now!" Sid said.

The sabre growled in response.

Sid tried to pull himself out of the tiger's jaws one more time.

"MANNY!" he choked. "MANNY!"

Suddenly, Manfred came around the corner, Roshan sitting on his poofy top-knot of fur.

"Guys, I thought we were in a hurry!" the mammoth said loudly. "The ship's about to leave!"

Then he turned to Diego. "I would recommend you spit the sloth out. You don't want to know where it's been."

Diego's eyes widened. _'YUCK!'_ Quickly, he dropped Sid on the ground.

"Come on!" Manfred sighed, and headed towards the _Interceptor_.

Sid massaged his throat as he laid on the ground. "You know, Diego, I thought you were _actually_ going to eat me!"

"I don't eat junk food," replied Diego coolly, and he loped after the mammoth.

Sid laughed. "Ha! I thought you were going to…I thought you were…Were you?"


	13. Chapter 11: Send Us On Our Way

As the _Interceptor_ set out towards Half Peak on that cold morning, it began to snow. 2 hours after sunrise, when the vessel had travelled a fair way upriver, the entire landscape was blanketed by snow.

At that time, Sid insisted that Manfred, Diego, and Roshan disembark and head back onto land to find some breakfast for the animals, and Manfred and Diego agreed. The ship's supplies of biscuits, water, rum, and tough meat were not good enough for their stomachs. Or the baby's, for that matter.

The pirates brought the _Interceptor_ alongside a smooth piece of land to dock on, and mammals disembarked to find some food. Straightaway, Sid lagged behind the others.

"Hey, come on, guys! Wait up! Wait up! Hey, fellas!"

Manfred and Diego ignored the sloth's frantic calls, and collected their food. Manfred found some tussock grasses and branches for himself. Roshan had an apple that Manfred found on the ground. Strangely enough, Diego didn't hunt at all or eat a thing.

Sid finally caught up with the others, but spent so much time eating leaves and pine needles that he was left far behind again.

The mammoth and the sabre waited behind a large chair-like rock. Eventually, Sid caught up with them.

"Thanks for waiting!" he gasped. Flopping down on the rock, he fell asleep.

Diego looked up at the sun, and shared a knowing look with Manfred.

"Three…two…one…"

_WHOOSH!_

Sid's body flew into the air, propelled by a jet of hot water and steam.

"Sure is faithful!" laughed Manfred, and they headed off again, towards the riverbank and the waiting _Interceptor_. As the tiger and the mammoth walked down the hill, Sid landed, head down, into the snow.

The chair-rock had been a geyser. One day, thousands of years into the future, it would be known as Old Faithful.

* * *

'_I would like to reach out my hand_

_How may see you_

_How may tell you to run_

_(On my way, on my way)_

_You know what they say about the young.'_

* * *

As the vessel sailed north, Sid held Roshan in his arms. Bored, the baby poked Sid in the sloth's long neck.

Sid smiled and poked the baby back.

Annoyed, Roshan poked Sid back a bit harder.

Sid poked Roshan back a bit harder, Roshan poked Sid harder, Sid poked Roshan harder, and soon the whole thing had escalated into a full-scale poke battle.

From the quarterdeck, Manfred looked down upon Sid and Roshan rolling about on the _Interceptor's_ main deck.

"Don't make me come down there!" he growled.

"He…_ow…_ he started it!" Sid whined, trying to avoid Roshan's finger jabs.

"I don't care who started it, but I'll finish it!" the mammoth shouted.

* * *

'_Well pick me up with golden hand_

_How may see you_

_How may tell you to run_

_(On my way, on my way)_

_You know what they say about the young.'_

'_Well, I would like to hold my hand_

_How we will run we will_

_How we will crawl we will_

_I would like to hold my hand_

_How we will run we will_

_How we will crawl…_

_Send me on my way.'_

* * *

At lunchtime, the ship stopped on the riverbank so everybody could have lunch on land. During his exploration for leaves to eat, Sid found a large frozen pond, and insisted that everybody come ice-skating.

Straight away, it became obvious that only Sid and Anamaria were good at this sport. Diego kept on slipping over, and Manfred was too frightened to move, should the ice crack beneath him.

Sid, with Roshan balanced on his head, smoothly looped around Manfred. "Hiya Manny!" he chirped.

He did a figure of eight around Diego. "Hi Diego!"

Then he did a fancy pirouette, throwing Roshan in the air and catching him in one hand…and smashed into an ice wall.

Roshan slid away, giggling, and crawled over to Manfred. The mammoth placed Roshan on his back, and headed away from the skating rink.

"Hey Sid!" Manfred smirked as they passed the sloth, who was struggling to get his head free from the ice.

* * *

When Anamaria skated back to shore, she strode up to Jack Sparrow and whacked him on the cheek. Again.

'_Ouch!'_

"Did you deserve that one?" Will asked.

"No. Don't think so," said Jack, rubbing his cheek.

* * *

On their way back from the frozen pond, the group came across a strange depression in the snow. They were just about to cross it when a small geyser nearby let off a puff of red steam.

Everybody stopped, surprised. And not a moment too soon, for a huge glacier came sliding along the depression at high speed just a moment later.

As soon as the hunk of ice had passed, the geyser emitted a puff of green steam, which the group took as a sign that they could cross.

"You know", said Jack Sparrow happily, "that stop-go-colour thingy-ma-whatsit is a pretty good idea. They could use it to stop silly little persons crossing the lanes in front of carriages, savvy?"

"That'll never happen," grunted Manfred.

* * *

Soon, the snow started to gather on the deck of the ship. It soon became an hourly job to sweep the snow off the wooden planks.

During Sid and Manfred's shift, Sid decided he would play a prank on the mammoth.

He held Roshan in one hand, and picked up a ball of snow in the other. The sloth threw the snowball at Manfred.

It hit the mammoth directly on his giant rear end.

Manfred whirled around, angry.

Sid smiled, and pointed at Roshan.

Manfred, though, was still suspicious.

* * *

Shortly after this, they passed a formation of Stonehenge on the river bank. Manfred snorted loudly at the sight of the oddly placed rocks.

"Modern architecture. It'll never last."

* * *

In the evening, Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Roshan disembarked the vessel to find some food. This time, Sid gathered more that he ate, so he wouldn't get left behind again.

The _Interceptor _waited for them at a point where a large slab of ice was balanced on some rocks, like a see-saw. Manfred, Sid, and Diego walked onto the slab.

As Manfred crossed the fulcrum point, his weight caused the ice to slowly tilt down, until the end landed on the deck of the waiting ship.

Diego boarded the ship first, followed by Manfred. But as soon as Manfred's weight left the see-saw, it snapped back to its original position, flinging Sid and his food into the water.

The green leaves and plants were lost in the water.

* * *

By the time the soaking sloth was hauled on board, he was hungry, miserable, and sick. For the rest of the evening, his nose was running badly, his eyes were watering and he kept on sneezing every few minutes or so.

As a waning moon came out that night, Sid was leaning against a pile of ropes, trying to get comfortable, when he saw Diego lope across a patch of moonlight.

For an instant, Sid thought he saw Diego's body turn into a skeleton. But when he blinked, it was just normal Diego, lying down in the shadow of the main deck.

_'Probably just my watery eyes,'_ thought Sid, and quickly fell asleep.

When he woke up, he had forgotten about the incident, and his cold had almost gone away.

* * *

Next morning, the _Interceptor _came to a point where the river split into three forks. One fork veered off to the left, one continued straight ahead, and one headed to the right.

Diego sniffed the air for a moment, before pointing at the left fork with his paw. "We should go that way," he declared.

Manfred snorted. "You're lost, aren't you?"

"No, I know _exactly_ where we are!" snapped the sabre. He looked back at Captain Jack Sparrow for support, but the pirate captain was staring at his compass and muttering under his breath.

"You could ask him for directions." Manfred pointed his trunk at a small sabre-tooth squirrel situated on a nearby ledge, trying to bury an acorn.

"I don't need directions!"

"Alright, Sid and I will ask him."

* * *

_Scrat watched as the three big creatures (a mammoth; a sabre tooth tiger; and a sloth) walked off the ship via a gangplank and onto his ledge. He hoped they weren't trying to steal his acorn. Growling, he hid his acorn behind his back._

"_Hey, buddy!" the mammoth spoke. "You seen any humans or big ships by here recently?"_

_Scrat shook his head. Then he remembered he had seen something. _

_Sometimes, Scrat hated it when he couldn't speak at all, but he could do the next best thing. Charades. _

_He held up 3 fingers, for 3 words. _

"_Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!" cried the sloth. "I love this game! I love this game! Three words, first word is…"_

_Scrat stamped one foot. _

"_Stamp?"_

_Scrat shook his head and jumped up and down. _

"_Stomp, stomp…no, that's two words..."_

"_Let me try," said the mammoth._

_Scrat picked up his acorn and held it on his back, like a bag. _

"_Pack!"_

_Scrat squeaked and nodded. _

"_Good one, Manny!" _

_The sabre tooth squirrel pointed at his long claws and teeth. _

"_Pack of…sharp teeth…and claws."_

_Out of the corner of his eye, Scrat saw the sabre-tooth tiger quickly retract his claws. _

_However, the mammoth and the sloth were not getting it. _

"_Pack of wolves?"_

"_Pack of bears?"_

"_Pachyderm?"_

_Scrat groaned, and pointed at the tiger. _

_Still, they were way off. _

"_Pack of whiskers? Pack of noses? Pack a wallop? Pack of birds? Pack of flying fish?"_

_The next thing Scrat knew, he was flying though the air with his acorn. He landed on a snowy hillside, and started rolling. Soon, the sabre-tooth squirrel was trapped in a giant snowball._

* * *

When the mammals returned back to the _Interceptor_, Jack Sparrow was still watching his compass. Finally, he looked up.

"The tiger is right," he announced. "We should take the left fork."

"See?" said Diego proudly.

* * *

'_I would like to hold my hand_

_How we will run we will_

_How we will crawl we will,'_

'_I would like to hold my hand_

_How we will run we will_

_How we will crawl…_

_Send me on my way.'_

* * *

As the vessel continued upriver, the snow continued to gather on the deck. Now it was Sid's turn to shovel the snow off the ship and into the river. But he still had an itch to throw another snowball at the mammoth.

'_He, he, he.'_

Sid winked at Roshan, who was sitting on a metal bollard. Then the sloth rolled up a large snowball and hurled it at Manfred.

It lodged between Manfred's ear and head.

The mammoth whirled around, glaring at both Sid and Roshan.

Instantly, Roshan pointed at Sid.

But before Manfred could pummel the sloth, a large snowball rolled off a cliff and on top of Sid, smothering the sloth. A leg and an arm stuck out of the pile of snow.

Roshan giggled happily, kicking his legs in his excitement.

Manfred smiled too, shaking the snowball out of his ear.

* * *

Soon, the weather turned nasty. The ship entered a violent snowstorm, and the temperature plummeted. Icicles formed on the ships rigging, on Manfred's tusks, and on Diego's sabre teeth. Sid's snot froze, turning into walrus tusks from his nose. One pirate even managed to snap a frozen toe off his left foot while trying to massage it back into life.

Will Turner was freezing in just his blacksmith's top and pants. He was also downright miserable.

The blacksmith looked up at Captain Jack Sparrow, who was grinning insanely as he steered the ship along the river. From time to time, he would check his strange blue compass. The one which didn't seem to work.

Will looked over to Mr Gibbs, who was helping cleat the mainsail rope.

"How can we sail to a mountain which nobody can find," Will bellowed over the wind, "with a compass that doesn't work?"

"Aye, the compass doesn't point north!" replied Gibbs. Then he winked. "But we're not tryin' to find north, are we?"

Joshamee Gibbs left Will to figure out this riddle, and fought his way to the quarterdeck, where Jack Sparrow was steering the ship. The slippery deck and howling wind made this short journey extremely hard, and Gibbs had been soaked by several waves and fallen over twice by the time he made it to Jack's side. He was not in a good temper now either.

"We should drop canvas, sir!" Gibbs called in a hoarse voice.

"She can hold a bit longer!" yelled the captain back, as he spun the wheel over to starboard.

Another wave soaked Mr Gibbs and Jack Sparrow. Gibbs spat out seawater and clung to a railing.

"What's gotten into your head that's put you in such a fine mood?" he bellowed.

Captain Jack Sparrow merely smiled his mysterious smile.

"We're catching up!"

* * *

**Chapter 11 done! :D**

**Yes, Sid sighted Diego in his cursed form. Jack, Manfred, and Sid are going to get suspicious in a couple of chapters. **

**Please review! **

**Diegorules483**


	14. Chapter 12: Manny the Nanny

Half Peak was an imposing mountain, for those who saw it. It was the shattered remains of a giant volcano, which had blown itself apart in a gigantic eruption many years ago. Craggy outcrops poked towards each other here and there. Where a high peak had once been located, there was now a huge caldera, a giant gap in the rock.

Down near the base of Half Peak, a small cove reached into the volcano's clutches. Sheltered from the battering of the wind outside, a large black galleon with tattered sails lay at anchor…

* * *

Elizabeth Swann looked out of the cabin window at the scene outside. Half Peak was not a very welcoming place, especially in bad weather. Ominous dark clouds gathered overhead. The mountain shadowed over everything around it.

Footsteps sounded from behind her. Elizabeth turned around to see Pintel, Ragetti, and a gang of other pirates standing before her. _'Cursed pirates,' _she reminded herself.

"Time to go, poppet," sneered Pintel.

Elizabeth was led by the pirates up to the quarterdeck, where Captain Barbossa and Soto were waiting for her. Another pirate tied her wrists together, and Barbossa carefully placed the Aztec medallion around her neck. Despite the freezing cold, Elizabeth did not shiver, for shivering would show weakness, and possibly fear as well. _'If I show them fear, it'll give them satisfaction. I'll give them no satisfaction at all.'_

Before she knew it, the lady found herself in a longboat, rowing through the water, with Barbossa, Soto, and Zeke.

"Boo!" shouted Zeke, before bursting into crazy cackling.

Elizabeth merely stared back at him coolly.

Suddenly, she noticed it was getting darker. Looking up, she saw that the longboats were all heading into a dark, mysterious tunnel.

'_What's going to happen next?' _Elizabeth wondered.

* * *

Further south, the weather was quite different. The sun shone down on a pure white landscape, dotted with a few hardy green fir trees.

The _Interceptor_ sailed north along a bright blue river, glistening in the sunlight, passing beautiful ice formations on the riverbanks. Those who were free of tasks leaned on the ships railings and

'_Dead men tell no tales!' _cawed Cotton's parrot from the bowsprit, as it spread its wings to catch the sunlight.

* * *

Will Turner watched as the beautiful scene went past. When he had nothing to do, he would watch the ever-changing landscape. It would take his mind off Elizabeth.

'_Elizabeth…what has happened to her? When are we going to catch up?'_

Will looked up to the quarterdeck, where Captain Jack Sparrow stood at the helm. He checked his mysterious compass, and then adjusted the course of the vessel.

'_Now I really need to know. Who is Jack Sparrow anyway? What happened to him? How did he get that compass?'_

Will looked about to see Joshamee Gibbs, who was methodically tightening and loosening the ropes that controlled one of the sails. _'Now there's a man I can trust to answer sensibly.'_

"How is it that Jack Sparrow came by that compass?" asked Will, dashing over to Gibbs.

Gibbs smiled. "There's not a lot known about Jack Sparrow before he came to the Mud Pools with a mind to go after the treasures of Half Peak. Now that was before I'd met him, back when he was captain of the _Black Pearl_."

Will whirled around. "Captain of the _what_?"

Gibbs merely smiled.

"He failed to mention that when he met me," Will continued.

"Well, he plays things close to the vest now. An' a hard learned lesson it was."

Gibbs took a breath. "Ye' see, three days out into the venture, the first mate says, 'Everything's an equal share, and that includes the location of Half Peak, too.' So Jack gives up the bearings, and that night, there was a mutiny."

Will's eyes widened.

"They marooned Jack on a small island in the middle of the river, and left him to die, but not before he'd gone_ mad _with thirst and cold."

"Ah," said Will. "So that's the reason for all this…" He mimed Jack's wide eyes and waving hands.

"Reasons got nothin' to do with it," snarled Mr Gibbs. He sat down and gestured for Will to sit down. "Now, Will, when a pirate is marooned, he is given a pistol with only one shot. One shot. No good for findin' food or rescue, but after three weeks, when your belly is starvin' and throat achin', that pistol is lookin' much more friendly." Gibbs mimed putting the pistol to his head.

Then he smiled. "But Jack, he escaped that island, and he's still got that single shot. He won't use it, though, save for his one man. His mutinous first mate."

Something went _click_ inside Will's head. "Barbossa! Barbossa was Jack's first mate."

"Aye," Gibbs confirmed.

Will's head was feeling a lot clearer, now that some of his questions had been answered. But he still had a few more. "How did Jack escape that island?"

Gibbs grinned. "This is the best part o' the story, so I'll tell ye. He waded out into the shallows, an' waited for three days and nights, 'till all manner of sea creatures became acclimated to his presence. Then, he roped a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together, and made a raft."

"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Will asked, uncertain.

"Aye. Sea turtles."

"What did he use for rope, then?"  
Another voice joined the conversation. Jack's voice.

"Human hair. Off me own back."

Then he gave the two of them a glare that plainly said, _'Now's not the time for telling stories, you silly men.'_

Gibbs sighed, and got back to work.

Will sighed too, and wandered back over to the side of the boat, where he continued watching the landscape.

A large cliff, covered with ice, rose in the distance.

* * *

The laughter of the pirates echoed around the narrow passages of Half Peak. Holding torches, they rushed through the passageways until they came to a giant cave.

Elizabeth was pushed into this cave by a pair of rough men. When they paused to survey the scene, Elizabeth took the opportunity to do so as well.

Everywhere, there was treasure. Mountains of gold Spanish doubloons, glowing in the light from the burning torches. Piles of jewels and precious ornaments. Crowns, cups, and carved gold statues were all strewn across the rock floor.

The cursed pirates were adding to this treasure trove, throwing new items to each pile. Elizabeth recognised with a jolt of fury some of the items stolen from her father's mansion. And then she saw something else that gave her tingles down her spine.

Sitting in the centre of the cave was a giant stone chest, with Aztec carvings traced into its hard grey surface. Soto and Barbossa paced around it, grinning evilly.

"Come on!" barked one of the pirates guiding her, and they shoved her into motion again.

* * *

"Ten years of hoarding swag!" sniggered Pintel.

"An' now we finally get to spend it!" giggled Ragetti.

The odd pirate pair carried a black chest between them. Laughing insanely, they opened the chest and tipped it over.

A lot of frilly women's corsets and parasols came tumbling out.

Other pirates looked over at Pintel and Ragetti's booty and rolled their eyes.

But Pintel and Ragetti were looking at their stolen dresses with glee. Ragetti held a pink corset in front of his body. "It could fit me," he smiled.

Pintel held up a parasol. "Once we're quit of the curse, we'll be rich men. An' then you can buy an eye what actually fits, and's made of glass."

Ragetti whimpered, and dropped his dress. "This one splinters somefink terrible." He started rubbing his wooden eye.

"Stop rubbin' it!" hissed his companion.

Just then, Oscar came loping past. His green eyes glanced over at the fat pirate and the thin, lanky one, holding lady's dresses and parasols.

Pintel smiled and waved.

Oscar rolled his eyes, and continued on.

Pintel continued to smile until Oscar disappeared behind a rock support. Then he glared at Ragetti and slapped him with the parasol. "This was _your_ idea!"

* * *

Diego stood on the forecastle deck of the _Interceptor_, watching the landscape in the distance.

Suddenly, something on the river ahead caught his eye. It was a small fleet of canoes, following a series of large sailing ships.

The canoes of the human tribe! Following the ships of the Royal British Navy!

Diego's eyes widened in horror.

'_Cool down, cat,' _he thought. _'Look, the ships are disappearing around the bend. The others won't be able to see them. _

_But how to lead them off the track…'_

The sabre tooth tiger looked around. To the right was a large cliff. Ice formations hung over the high edge of the cliff. And leading into the cliff was a narrow cave.

'_Perfect. There's our diversion.'_

Diego took a few seconds to practice what he was going to say. Then, he bounded back towards Manfred and Sid, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey! Great news! I found a shortcut!"

"A shortcut?" Manfred asked. "What shortcut?"

Roshan slipped off Manfred's poofy topknot and slid down the mammoth's long trunk. The mammoth caught the baby just in time.

"I mean faster than the long way round."

"OH! I _know_ what a shortcut is!" snapped Manfred. Roshan was now climbing up Manfred's trunk, nearly hitting the mammoth's eyes with his hands and feet.

"Look," Diego continued. "Either we beat the humans to Glacier Pass or we take the long way," here he gestured towards the winding river, "and miss 'em."

Manfred looked at the crevasse in the cliff. "Through there, huh? What do you take me for?"

Diego grinned. "This time tomorrow, you could be a free mammoth."

Suddenly, Roshan latched onto the mammoth's eyelid and pulled hard. Manfred yelped in pain.

Diego smirked.

"Or a nanny. Personally, I never get tired of peek-a-boo."

* * *

Jack Sparrow watched the river ahead with his sharp brown eyes, adjusting the ship's course to match the curve of the river.

Suddenly, a voice caught his attention. Looking down, he saw the sabre tooth tiger, Diego, waving a paw in the air.

"I've found a shortcut!" he yelled. "Can you stop the ship?"

Jack Sparrow sighed. "Lower the anchor!" he bellowed at a group of crew members who were leaning on a railing.

"Aye, sir! Lower the anchor!" the crew chorused, and they rushed to the forecastle deck to drop the heavy iron anchor into the water.

Will looked at Jack. "Did he say a shortcut?" the man asked.

"Aye. And by my reckoning, that tiger is right."

"Then I'm coming with you," Will stated.

Mr Gibbs rushed up to Jack, with a worried look on his face. "Capt'n, what…"

"Young Mr Turner, the mammoth, the baby, the sloth, the sabre, and I are to go ashore, to do some exploring." Captain Jack Sparrow, grinned, then he sauntered towards the side of the vessel, where a gangplank was already being readied.

Gibbs was still concerned. "But Capt'n, what if the worst should happen?"

"Keep to the Code," Jack muttered.

"Aye…the Code!" Joshamee Gibbs smiled.

Will glared after Jack Sparrow. _'The Code? What is the Code? What does it involve?'_

This was getting too suspicious now. _'If that man plays any tricks…'_

Will decided, though, that he was going to tag along and act like normal. Pirates could get very suspicious even when there was nothing to be suspicious about.

* * *

The gangplank was shoved off the ship and onto the snowy land. First Manfred, carrying Roshan, then Diego, then Jack Sparrow, and finally, Will Turner, walked off the _Interceptor_ and onto the land.

Sid did not follow at first. He had just spotted an icicle, snapped clean in half, lying on the deck of the vessel.

The sloth rushed over to pick up the two pieces of ice. He rolled them in his paws, thinking about what to do with them.

'_Aha! A clever joke!'_

Sid rushed across the gangplank, towards where Manfred, Diego, Jack, and Will were looking over Diego's 'shortcut'.

"Hey, guys, guys!" Sid lisped. "Check it out!"

Sid held the two icicle halves to each side of his long neck. It gave the very convincing appearance that Sid had been stabbed by an icicle. The sloth made gurgling and choking songs, staggering about like Frankenstein.

Manfred put his trunk to his forehead. "Sid, the tiger found a shortcut."

Sid stopped gargling and looked at the shortcut. Then he looked up at the top of the cliff, where ice and snow hung dangerously over the mammals.

The sloth dropped his two icicles.

"No thanks," he declared. "I choose life." Then he started marching back towards the _Interceptor._

Diego blocked him.

"In that case, I suggest you take the shortcut, sloth," the sabre snarled, teeth bared.

Sid glared back at the tiger. "Are you threatening me?"

Diego couldn't take more. "Yes I am, and now MOVE, SLOTH!"

The sabre tooth tiger's echo rolled around the surrounding snowy hills.

Then, with a roaring rumble, the mass of ice and snow above the group rolled down the cliff towards them.

"Way to go, tiger!" Sid groaned.

Will stared at the avalanche with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Oh, bugger," said Jack.

Manfred started running towards the cave. "Quickly! Everybody in here!"

Diego galloped after the mammoth, followed closely by Will. Jack Sparrow ran after him, arms flapping around like a seagull's. And finally, Sid dashed into the cave, just as the avalanche came crashing down behind him.

Suddenly, Manfred cried something.

"Stop! All of you!"

Everybody stopped. Everybody looked up.

Hanging right above them was a mass of sharp icicles. All shaking away madly, threatening to dislodge themselves any second and skewer everybody like overlarge kebabs on a tiny stick.

Instinctively, everybody ran back to the entrance.

But it was too late. The gap was now filled with boulders and chunks of ice. It would be impossible for anybody to climb to the few remaining gaps.

Sid looked back towards the shaking icicles. For a second, they looked like they were going to fall down.

And then…after the longest few nail-biting seconds Sid had ever experienced…the icicles steadied themselves, and everything was still again.

Sid let out a long breath. _'Phew. I thought we were goners there.'_

"Okay," said Manfred. "I vote shortcut."

It didn't look like they had a choice anyway.

Slowly, Manfred and Diego wandered away from the blocked cave entrance, under the icicles, and into the dark depths of the cave.

Sid, Jack Sparrow, and Will Turner rushed after them.

Behind them, the last few rocks tumbled down from the cliff top, blocking the last few gaps to the outside world.

* * *

Soon, the cave changed. It was no longer a rocky cave, like most caves are. It was an ice passage.

The grey stone walls became glacier-blue ice walls, beaming sunlight from the outside world into the passage. It was a beautiful, but eerie sight for the group walking through the cave.

"Keep together, guys," Diego said softly. "It's too easy to get lost in here."

Sid wasn't listening. His large eyes were scanning the ice formations in the cave.

However, while he was watching his surroundings, he wasn't watching where he was going. And on his present path, he was headed straight for an outcrop of ice.

_BUMP!_

Sid's head slammed into the outcrop very hard. The sloth wobbled for a second, and then toppled over onto the ice floor of the cave.

Out cold.

Neither Manfred, Diego, or Roshan noticed Sid on the ground. They continued walking, straight through the centre of three ice corridors. Two of them split off, one to the left, one to the right, but they both joined back with the main passage further on.

* * *

Jack Sparrow and Will Turner walked past the unconscious Sid without even a second glance. They were a few seconds too late to see Manfred and Diego take the middle ice corridor, so they took the leftmost corridor.

Their walk was spent mostly in silence. Will watched their surroundings, while Jack Sparrow tapped his compass and muttered to himself.

Suddenly, Will saw something strange trapped in a transparent ice wall. As he passed close by it, a sudden beam of light illuminated the something…which turned out to be a _human skeleton_.

To be precise, a human skeleton with a sword stabbed in its back.

Will felt a shiver run up his spine. _'Backstabbers. What if Jack Sparrow is a backstabber?'_

"What code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" he asked his companion.

"Pirate's Code," replied Jack. "He who falls behind stays behind."

"No heroes amongst thieves, then," Will muttered.

Captain Jack Sparrow smiled. "You know, for having such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on the way to becomin' one yourself."

Will looked at him, surprised.

"Sprung a man from prison," Jack continued, "commandeered a ship of the navy fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of the pirate haven of the Tar Pits…"

Will wasn't listening anymore. In fact, he had stopped, and was staring at something else trapped in the ice with mesmerised eyes. Something gold, and silver, and multi-coloured, and glittering…

"…an' you're completely obsessed with treasure."

Will snapped out of the daze. "That's not true! I am not obsessed with treasure."

"Denial is the clincher," chuckled Jack Sparrow to himself.

* * *

"Gentlemen, the time has come!" announced Captain Hector Barbossa in a loud voice.

The cursed crew of the _Black Pearl_, sabre-tooth tigers and humans alike, stood around the raised mound of treasure where the Aztec chest sat.

Elizabeth stood over the stone chest. The last gold medallion was still fastened around her neck, and her hands were still bound tightly. She couldn't escape, even if she tried. Soto stood by her side, watching her with his evil eyes. Her breath came quicker and quicker. _'I'm going to die. I know it. I just know it.'_

"Salvation is nigh!" continued the cursed pirate captain.

The pirates cheered again.

"Our torment is nearing an end! For ten years we've been tested and tried, an' each man and sabre here has proved his mettle a thousand times over, an' a thousand times again!" Barbossa finished.

Another roar of appreciation rung out, echoing through the cave.

"Suffered, I have!" Ragetti half-sobbed.

"Punished, we were!" called Barbossa. "The lot of us! Disproportionate to our crime!"  
And so Captain Barbossa's speech continued. Elizabeth was too frightened to hear a word of it, though. All she could think of was her fate: death itself.

'_If nobody comes to rescue me…please, please let it be quick.'_

* * *

Sid finally woke up.

Dazed, he tried to lift his head off the ground…but he couldn't.

His long tongue, which had flopped out of his mouth when he had knocked himself out, had stuck to the icy floor.

Moaning, Sid pulled as hard as he could, gagging with the effort to pull his tongue off the icy floor.

Finally, with a loud _snap_, the sloth was freed. His tongue continued to hang down out of his mouth, making speech difficult.

"Uh…guyth?" Sid spat, looking around for his companions. But by now, they were far ahead in the tunnel.

Shoving his tongue back inside his mouth, Sid rushed down the rightmost tunnel, the only one that was currently empty.

This passage was eerie. The ice was transparent here, giving the appearance of glass cases in a giant ice museum.

Sid ran along the passage for a minute or so before he stopped. The lazy sloth leaned against one of these transparent ice layers, gasping for breath.

Once he had regained his breath, Sid, out of curiosity, looked into the transparent ice case.

"Aah!"

Suspended, frozen in the ice, was a large, wide-eyed piranha with very long teeth.

After the initial shock of seeing the creature wore off, Sid laughed at his reaction. "Silly me," he giggled. "It was just a fish."

'_Though, it is still a very creepy fish.'_

Sid walked across the corridor to another, larger ice case, still watching the frozen piranha as though it might come to life and come through the glass to bite his head off.

Finally, he let out a sigh…and turned around…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Frozen in this ice case was a huge, fearsome, _tyrannosaurus rex_. Mouth wide open, eyes seemingly staring at the sloth.

This time, the shock didn't left Sid. His teeth started chattering uncontrollably as he walked away from the dinosaur.

Soon, unbeknown to himself, Sid was neck and neck with both Manfred, Diego, and Roshan in the centre tunnel, and Jack and Will in the leftmost tunnel.

The sloth came to another transparent-ice case, with four shapes inside it.

Nervously, Sid looked at the first shape.

It was a large blob with hairs around the outside…and two eyes of different sizes. _'Rather like my own,'_ the sloth thought.

Sid considered the giant amoeba for a moment, before looking at the second shape.

The second shape was a fat eel, again with the two mismatching eyes.

The third shape was a beaver-like creature, with not only Sid's oddly-sized eyes, but Sid's mismatching buck teeth.

And the fourth shape was extremely similar to Sid. It was a large ground sloth, almost the same size as Sid, but with larger, more muscular arms.

Sid imagined himself next to the pre-prehistoric ground sloth. _'Hmm. I think this is my ancient family tree. I'll call it evolution.'_

The sloth nodded thoughtfully to himself, before continuing on up the tunnel.

Soon, Sid could see Manfred, Diego, Will, and Jack walking through the centre passage. He hurried up to catch up to them and pretend nothing had happened.

Then he paused again. There was another ice exhibition next to him.

Sid turned and looked.

Trapped in the ice was a large, silver flying saucer. Sid felt a shiver run up his spine. Quickly, he turned and followed the others.

* * *

Roshan turned to look at the UFO (Unidentified Frozen Object). He suddenly felt a strange feeling, like there was somebody watching him with very logical eyes.

For a second, Roshan saw a strange reflection in the ice. The reflection of a man in a blue costume, with pointed ears and heavily arched eyebrows.

The man raised his right hand into a salute-like position, with the middle finger and ring finger parted. Roshan smiled, and returned the salute.

Then the reflection of the man with the pointy ears disappeared.

Finally, Barbossa had finished his speech.

* * *

All the pirates watched him and Elizabeth intently.

"An' here it is!" cried Barbossa, kicking the lid off the stone chest.

Glittering in the light were hundreds of gold medallions, with the same skull face as Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth Swann let out a gasp. _'So the legend is true.'_

Hector Barbossa ran a wrinkled hand across the coins. "The cursed treasure of Cortés himself. "An' every last piece that went astray we have returned." Barbossa picked up a handful of medallions, and dropped them back in the chest with a series of _clinks_.

"We returned a fair few ourselves, didn't we?" Lenny the scimitar cat muttered to Zeke.

"And now our curse is about to be ended!" whispered Zeke back, and he burst into his signature crazy cackle.

"Every last piece…save for THIS ONE!" finished Barbossa, pointing straight at Elizabeth's medallion.

"YEAAAH!" chorused the crowd of pirates.

* * *

Will Turner and Jack Sparrow walked back into the central tunnel in time to hear Manfred say to Sid, "Will you keep up, please? It's hard enough to keep track of one baby!"

Will was getting impatient of all this walking and no rescuing. "We could get to Elizabeth much quicker. She could be hurt, _dying_, by now. We could be there, rescuing her, by now!"

"Not now!" hissed Jack. "We will need to wait until the opportune moment, savvy?"

"And when's that?" growled Will. "When's it of greatest profit to you?"

Captain Jack Sparrow put his face right up to the blacksmith's, so that William could smell his putrid breath. "I'll ask you a question. Have I ever given you reason _not_ to trust me?"

Then he sauntered ahead.

'_Actually, quite a few,'_ Will thought to himself. _'Let's see…sword fighting me and cheating, letting me hang over the ocean on a ship's boom, and talking about me as leverage. It's too much. I don't need you, 'Captain' Jack Sparrow. I don't think you care about Elizabeth at all.'_

Will bent down and picked up a large club-like branch. The animals were too engrossed in conversation to worry about the two humans behind them.

Will tiptoed up to Jack Sparrow…and then whacked him in the back of the head with the club.

"I'm sorry, Jack!" snarled Will, as he looked down with scorn upon the unconscious body of the pirate lying on an ice ledge. "But I won't be your leverage."

Then he gave the body of Jack Sparrow a kick, climbed through a hole in the glacier, and disappeared.

* * *

"Ye know what I'm gonna do when the curse is undone?" shouted Barbossa, smiling. "I'm gonna eat a whole bushel of apples!"

All the pirates laughed.

"And I'm going to devour a whole gazelle!" cried Soto. "A large, plump, one."

"Aww, stop it, Boss!" called Lenny, who's mouth was watering uncontrollably. "You're killing me!"

Barbossa burst into laughter. Then he turned to business again. "Who here has paid the blood sacrifice to the heathen gods?"

Everybody shouted, "Me!"

"An' who's blood has yet to be paid?"

"HERS!" was the answer, as every hand and paw turned to point at Elizabeth.

The frightened woman shrunk with fear as Barbossa pulled out an old rusty dagger.

"Begun by blood!" he announced. "And by blood undone!"

With a shining claw, Soto pulled the medallion off Elizabeth's neck.

All the pirates suddenly started chanting. "Begun by blood! By blood undone! Begun by blood! By blood undone!"

Elizabeth felt her back bent as Soto shoved her over the open chest.

Barbossa took the medallion from the sabre-tooth tiger, and placed it in one of her hands.

Then, he raised the knife…

* * *

**Cliffhanger! :O **

**By the way, three guesses who the man in blue with the pointed ears is. ;)**

**Please review!**


	15. Chapter 13: Ice Slide Ride

…and brought it down into her right hand (the one holding the medallion).

Elizabeth winced as the cold steel dove into her flesh. But quick as a flash, Barbossa brought the knife out again, now covered in blood.

"That's it?!" Elizabeth asked, half disappointed, half shocked.

Hector Barbossa winked at her. "Waste not," he grinned.

And then he pressed her bleeding hand against the gold of the skull medallion. The chanting of the pirates was now so fast it was a wonder that the words were still comprehensible.

Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Barbossa forced open Elizabeth's hand.

And the blood-splattered medallion dropped.

With a loud clink, the medallion joined its brothers in the chest.

* * *

Hector's Barbossa's heart leaped as he saw the last medallion fall into the chest. _'That's it. We're alive again. The curse has lifted.'_

The pirate captain closed his eyes to savour the feeling of being truly alive again.

And then, after a moment, he opened them again.

'_Strange. I don't feel any different.'_

"Did it work?" demanded Oscar.

"I don't feel no different," said Ragetti loudly, voicing everybody's thoughts at that moment.

"So how do we tell?" Pintel barked.

Barbossa rolled his eyes. _'Imbiciles.'_ Quick as a flash, he pulled out his flintlock pistol, aimed it at Pintel, and pulled the trigger.

_BANG!_

The bullet shot straight through the pirate's chest, leaving a small black hole.

Pintel stiffened up. Ragetti flinched.

Slowly, Pintel looked down at the smoking hole in his chest.

Everybody else looked as well.

The hole went right through Pintel's chest, all the way to his back. But there was no blood.

Not a drop.

"You're not dead!" shouted Oscar.

Pintel laughed. "No! I'm not!" Then he pointed an accusing finger at Barbossa. "He shot me!"

"It didn't work!" whined Lenny.

. "The curse is still upon us!" shouted another pirate.

"He's right!" chorused the other pirates and sabres.

Captain Barbossa seemed to have turned to ice. Slowly, he lifted the knife and examined the red stains of hardened blood on the blade.

Then, he whipped around to face Elizabeth.

"You! Maid!" he barked. "Your father, what was his name!"

Elizabeth merely glared back and remained silent.

Barbossa's anger started to rise. "Was yer father William Turner!" he screamed, shaking Elizabeth by the shoulders.

"No," the lady smirked.

"THEN WHERE'S HIS CHILD?! The child, who sailed from Britain eight years ago, the child in who's veins flows the blood of Bootstrap Bill Turner? Where?"

Despite Barbossa's furious outburst, Elizabeth remained cool and calm. _'He's failed. He's still cursed, the dirty pirate. And he hasn't got Will.'_

Suddenly, the pirate captain pulled his arm back…and whacked her in the face.

Very, very hard.

The force of the blow sent Elizabeth toppling over the mound of treasure the Aztec chest sat on, and down to the rocks below.

The impact knocked her out cold.

Now the pirates were getting very angry.

"You two!" shouted the Bo'sun. "You brought us the wrong person!"

"No!" shrieked Pintel. "She had the medallion! She was the proper age! How were we to know?"

"She said her name was Turner," said Ragetti in support. "You 'eard her. But I think she lied to us."

And now the anger of the pirates turned to Barbossa. "You brought us here for NOTHING!" shouted another pirate.

Barbossa stood up even straighter. "I won't take questioning, or second guesses, not from the likes of you, Master Twigg."

"So who's to blame him?" shouted the Bo'sun. "Your decisions have led us from bad to worse!"

"_YEAH!" _was the echoing reply.

"It was you who sent Bootstrap to the depths!" cried another pirate.

"_YEAH!"_

And so the standoff continued.

* * *

Soto rolled his eyes and loped down the mound of treasure towards the other sabres, who were standing in a group away from the mass argument a few metres away.

"Why don't they just look for the real Turner, instead of all this arguing?" Oscar asked reasonably.

"They're humans," sighed Soto. "Uncivilized things. They'll blame each other for the tiniest little things, and not see reason. We, on the other paw, work together for a common goal."

The sabre-tooth tiger grinned. "And our goal is the sweet taste of revenge."

* * *

Elizabeth came to just in time to see Soto disappear behind a mountain of treasure.

Her brown eyes scanned the pirates. _'Excellent. They're too busy arguing, so they won't notice me.'_

Then, she looked around for an escape route.

Right next to her was a wide, deep creek that ran through Half Peak. _'Perfect. There's my escape route. But I need to keep the medallion safe…'_

Suddenly, there was a flash of gold against the dull grey stone. Elizabeth turned to see the Aztec medallion lying next to her on the rock.

Quick as a flash, she grabbed it and stuffed it into a dress pocket. Then, taking a deep breath, she dove into the water, leaving hardly a ripple behind.

* * *

The Bo'sun drew his sword. "An' it was you who brought us here in the first place!" He advanced up towards Barbossa, followed by a crowd of mad pirates.

The captain drew his own sword, a long cutlass with a gold hilt. "If any coward dare challenge me, let him speak!" he shouted.

The cutlass whipped through the air, pointing at each of the pirates in turn.

Each and every man stopped. They all knew Barbossa could beat them in a swordfight easily.

Suddenly, Soto came forward from the huddle of orange sabre-tooth tigers.

"I say," he announced, "that we should slit her throat and spill all her blood. Just in case."

"_YEAH!" _chorused the pirates.

Hector Barbossa nodded, and sheathed his sword.

He turned to start down the mound of gold and silver treasure to grab Elizabeth, only to be greeted by…

An empty rock outcrop.

Barbossa's eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. _'Where is she?!' _he thought.

Suddenly, there was a screech from a rock outcropping. The pirate captain turned to see his monkey, pointing through a tunnel. Steadily moving through the stream was a mop of golden hair.

Elizabeth's golden hair.

A tic started dancing under Barbossa's left eye.

"THE MEDALLION!" he screamed. "SHE'S TAKEN IT! GET AFTER HER, YA FECKLESS PACK OF INGRATES!"

With a roar, all the pirates stampeded through the caves towards the boats.

The sabre-tooth tigers followed at a gallop.

But when Soto and the tigers arrived at the boats about a minute later, they found a surprise waiting for them.

"The oars!" cried a pirate. "Where are the oars?"

For during the time it took for the pirates to get from the main cavern to the docked rowboats, Elizabeth had pulled all the oars out of the boats and stolen them.

Quickly, the news relayed back to Captain Barbossa.

He was not impressed.

"FIND THEM! QUICKLY! OR I'LL HAVE YE ALL KEELHAULED, YA BLOOMIN' COCKROACHES!"

* * *

After Will Turner had knocked Jack Sparrow out, kicked him, and escaped through a crack to find Elizabeth, the unconscious pirate started to slide along the slope.

Roshan watched as Jack slid along the ledge.

Giggling, the baby transferred himself from Manfred's shoulders to the ledge behind Captain Sparrow.

Manfred, Sid, and Diego were too slow Jack Sparrow's body slip over a crest and into a tunnel.

But they turned just in time to see Roshan slide up the crest, and fly up into the air.

In mid-air, Roshan waved at them.

Then he fell into the tunnel and disappeared.

"AAAAARGH!" screamed all three mammals in unison. Then they rushed up to the mouth of the tunnel, frantically watching Roshan slip and slide down the tunnel behind Captain Jack Sparrow, squealing and giggling happily.

Straightaway, all three dove into the tunnel after the baby.

It didn't take Manfred long to find out it was impossible to stay steady on his four feet. Soon, he was sliding along on his rear-end. Diego was flat on his stomach, and Sid was lying on his back.

None of them were enjoying the ride at all.

But Roshan was having the time of his life. As he whizzed around the twists and turns, he laughed excitedly, waving his hands above his head.

* * *

Jack Sparrow regained consciousness.

The first thing he thought was, _'Ouch, my head hurts.'_

The second thing he thought was, _'Where's Will?'_

The third thing he thought was, _'Where am I?'_

Then he noticed that he was racing down a very steep ice incline. Jack Sparrow screamed like only he could.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

* * *

At the bottom of the incline, the ice tunnel split into three. Manfred and Jack Sparrow slid into the leftmost one, Diego travelled into the middle tunnel, and Roshan and Sid slid through the rightmost tunnel.

Then, the tunnels opened up into a large ice cavern, and the ice slides ended in steep ramps. Manfred, Jack, Sid, Diego, and Roshan all flew up the ramps and into the air. They all passed within a few centimetres from each other, before landing back down on the slippery ice again.

* * *

Sid continued down his tunnel after Roshan. Using his claws to propel him along faster, the sloth was able to catch up easily to the baby.

Roshan flapped his hands and smiled at Sid.

Sid laughed back. "Woo-hoo! I…gotcha!" And with that, the sloth grabbed Roshan and held him on top of his head.

But before he could do anything more, Sid suddenly found himself falling down a narrow crack. Above him, he heard Roshan giggle as the baby continued sliding along in the passage above.

Sid slid down the crevice and onto another ice ramp. He flew up into the air, upside down, almost walking on the ceiling of the ice cavern, before landing in another tunnel on his head.

Then he toppled down another hole onto Manfred's head.

* * *

Manfred heard a whoop next to him. Looking around, he saw Captain Jack Sparrow sliding alongside him. Standing as if he was surfing the ice on an invisible board.

The pirate whizzed ahead of Manfred. Before he could watch Jack go, however, Diego flew out of another tunnel, and landed on Manfred's behind.

"AAAAAAAAOWWW!" Manfred trumpeted as Diego's claws sank into his rump.

Sid held onto Manfred's tusks as the mammoth – now acting as a sled – skidded along the ice slide.

Suddenly, Sid saw that there was something ahead of them. A large ledge of ice blocked their path, and there was no other route to take.

"Captain!" Sid shouted into Manfred's flailing trunk. "Iceberg ahead!"

All three mammals screamed as they headed towards the ledge. They came closer and closer...and then they collided with the large block of ice.

* * *

The force of the impact caused the ledge to break off the main ice slide. Manfred, Sid, and Diego rode the slab of ice like a surfboard, following Roshan and Jack Sparrow down a steep gradient and into another tunnel.

Suddenly, Roshan and Jack disappeared around a corner. The mammals continued straight ahead…towards a bed of sharp icicles poking out of the ground.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

The slab of ice ran across the icicles, which grated up the ice like it was merely cheese. Fortunately, by the time the ice slab had been reduced to splinters, Manfred, Sid, and Diego were back on the smooth ice again, still trying to catch up to Roshan and Captain Jack Sparrow.

The mammals slid over another crest, and down a series of parallel slides. Roshan was still in the lead.

Sid finally caught up to Roshan again. He tried breaking through the ice barrier separating their two slides, but only succeeded in hurting his claws.

Diego tried to catch up to Roshan too. The sabre lowered his body closer to the ice, reducing his air friction, and speeding up slightly.

Manfred saw what the tiger was doing, and copied Diego's actions. The mammoth quickly caught up with the sabre.

Diego lowered himself even further, the fur on his stomach now brushing the ice below him.

Manfred snorted, and lowered himself as much as he could. Gravity pulled on the mammoth's immense bulk, and he raced ahead of Diego.

Suddenly, Roshan flew up another ice ramp and into the air. The baby squealed with excitement as he tumbled through the cavern.

* * *

Jack Sparrow watched Roshan cartwheel through the air with wide eyes. _'What goes up must come down, so when he falls…'_

Then the pirate sensed something ahead of him. He looked to see a large ice wall racing up to meet him.

"Oh bugger."

* * *

_Scrat smiled, tapping his acorn one last time. It was safe now, stuck in this ice wall until the spring thaw._

_Scrat turned to walk away…and saw Jack Sparrow skidding towards him._

_The sabre-tooth squirrel screamed. He rushed back to his acorn, trying to pull it out of the ice. However, Scrat had buried his nut too well this time._

CRASH!

_The pirate slammed into the ice wall, knocking Scrat out, sending his acorn flying, and creating a human-shaped hole in the wall._

_Next, a sloth and a sabre-tooth tiger slammed into the wall, further enlarging the hole._

* * *

Manfred watched as Roshan started to fall. _'Oh no. If he hits the ground…'_

The mammoth didn't want to see that happen. He reached out his trunk, and grabbed Roshan just before he hit the ground.

The baby giggled happily and waved his arms about.

Manfred let out a sigh of relief.

Then he too collided with the ice wall, causing lots of ice and snow to cascade down onto himself, Sid, Diego, Roshan, and Jack Sparrow.

* * *

By the time the mini-avalanche had finished, Manfred, Roshan, Jack, and Sid were all wearing mounds of snow on their head that resembled the Santa hats of today, and a large pile of snow marked where Diego was.

Suddenly, the golden sabre leaped out of the snow, and punched Manfred on the shoulder.

"Whoo! Yeah! Who's up for round two?"

Roshan put his hand up. So did Jack Sparrow, who was still grinning from ear to ear.

But Manfred and Sid just glared at Diego. The tiger's enthusiasm collapsed under the pressure of the angry stares, and he cleared his throat.

"Tell…tell the kid to be more careful next time," Diego muttered.

As the animals walked into another ice tunnel, Manfred looked at Jack Sparrow. "You were knocked out, you've slid down a maze of slides that must make anybody feel nauseous, and you've slammed into an large ice wall. How can you keep on grinning like that?"

Jack's grin widened. "You're forgetting one very important fact, mate."

He gave the mammoth a wink.

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!"

Manfred didn't see that as a suitable answer, but he already knew that Jack Sparrow could go into long and completely useless explanations, as he had done with Will several times on the voyage.

'_I won't tempt him, then.'_

So the group headed into the next cave, leaving the slides behind them.


	16. Interlude 2

_Scrat poked his head out of the mound of snow he had been buried in. The shocked sabre-toothed squirrel rubbed his head as he tried to remember what had happened to him. _

_He remembered being kicked into a large ice wall by a boot, and his acorn flying away from him just before he lost consciousness. _

_Scrat let out a sad whimper. He had lost his acorn again, just when it had been safe in his hands. _

_Then, suddenly, something caught his eye. _

_It was an acorn on the wall! _

_Scrat let out a happy squeak, and rushed towards the acorn. _

_He failed to see that the acorn was only two-dimensional, and was not trapped in the ice…but painted on a rock wall. _

WHAM!

_Scrat slammed into the stone and collapsed to the ground. The squirrel-creature gave a small groan before he passed out again. _


	17. Chapter 14: Memories

Elizabeth Swann slumped to the ground behind a rock, completely puffed.

Since she had escaped from Half Peak, two hours ago, and swam out of the maze of streams in the long-extinct volcano, she had leaped onto the land and ran.

Elizabeth had run across a large, flat ice plain, where the ice felt hot under her bare feet.

She had slid down a shingle bank, and leaped across a narrow creek.

Now, as she looked down on her surroundings, Elizabeth could see a large, wide glacier, which had flowed around a large cliff. And down in a small stream valley, there was the silhouette of a ship.

Suddenly, something grabbed her arm. Elizabeth screamed and leaped up to see…

…Will Turner. Looking at her with his concerned brown eyes.

"Elizabeth? Are you alright?"

"I'm…fine," Elizabeth gasped. "Will, we have to get to the fleet. The pirates, they…"

"We have a ship," Will said proudly. "Come on!"

And, taking her hand, he led her down a bank towards the stream.

As the pair came closer to the stream, Elizabeth recognised the ship. "It's the _Interceptor_! Has Commodore Norrington come to rescue me?"

Will shook his head. "Wait and see."

He directed Elizabeth across a set of stepping stones right up to the _Interceptor's _hull. Then he helped her up a rope ladder that led straight to the main deck…where the motley pirate crew of Mr Gibbs, Anamaria, Cotton (plus his parrot), Marty, and others.

"Not more pirates," Elizabeth uttered, backing towards the side of the ship.

Suddenly, someone she recognised stepped forwards and extended a hand. "Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth!" he said in a friendly voice.

"Mr Gibbs?" Elizabeth gasped.

She remembered him now! He had hardly changed over eight years. Only his beard had turned greyer.

* * *

_Young Elizabeth Swann stood at the bow of the recently commissioned _HMS Dauntless_. A breeze whipped through her hair and flowing dress. But the twelve year old girl did not notice these things as she sung a pirate shanty. _

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!

We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for…"

_Suddenly, a hand grabbed her by the shoulder. Elizabeth yelped, and turned around to see the brown beard and sea-lined face of Mr Joshamee Gibbs, a sailor on the _Dauntless_._

"_Careful, missy!" he snapped. "Cursed pirates sail these waters. You want to call them down on us?"_

"_Mr Gibbs!" barked another voice. "That will do."  
It was Lieutenant Norrington, as he had been back then. A young, heroic, talented sailor, a natural leader and commander, who was sure to rise fast in the ranks of the Royal Navy. _

"_She was singing 'bout pirates!" whined Gibbs. "It's bad luck to be singing about pirates in this unnatural fog, mark my words."_

"_Consider them marked, sailor," said Norrington calmly. "On your way."_

_As Gibbs marched off, he muttered something under his breath. "Bad luck to have a woman on board, too, even a miniature one."_

_Elizabeth did not hear his comment. _

"_I think," she said dreamily, "it would be quite exciting to meet a pirate."_

* * *

Only now, Elizabeth knew that it was not exciting to meet a pirate. Especially a cursed one with temper problems.

However, she knew that Mr Gibbs was a man that could be trusted. She took his hand, and he shook it vigorously.

* * *

Suddenly, Mr Gibbs turned to Will, who had now deposited himself on the wooden deck of the _Interceptor_.

"Hey, boy!" Gibbs barked. "Where be Jack?"

Elizabeth looked at Will. "Jack? Jack Sparrow?" she asked, curious.

Will tried hard not to blush or show the guilt in his voice as he answered.

"He got…left behind."

Then Will quickly led Elizabeth below decks.

* * *

Mr Gibbs let out a sad sigh. Captain Jack Sparrow, the quirky, strange pirate leader, was gone. Captured, or dead.

The entire crew observed a few moments silence for their (supposedly) dead leader.

Finally, Joshamee Gibbs turned around and barked out an order. "Keep to the code, boys!"

Anamaria quickly took charge. "Weigh anchor! Hoist the sails!" she ordered. "Make it quick, you lousy men!"

Mr Gibbs, though, took a moment to look out upon the icy cliffs, where Jack and the mammals had disappeared earlier. Then he sighed, and took up his place at the wheel of the _Interceptor_.

* * *

Jack Sparrow, though, was not dead. He was alive and well, continuing through the maze of tunnels in the large cliff with Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Roshan.

He was also thinking over something.

'_That tiger, he's very strange. He hasn't eaten at all. And when I saw him last night, he was purposely avoiding the moonlight.'_

A suspicion flickered through Jack's mind. He decided, though, to keep quiet about it, and followed the orange sabre-tooth tiger around another corner in the cave.

* * *

Sid, who was carrying Roshan, looked up at the low roof of the tunnel. He was surprised that the mammoth in front of him could stand upright without bumping his head against the hard rock above him.

Suddenly, the tunnel opened up into a huge cave. Light filtered in from the mouth of the cave, illuminating thousands of paintings all over the stone walls. Paintings of rhinos, and gazelles, beavers, giant birds, and more.

Sid's mouth dropped open at the magnificent sight. Diego's eyes widened in wonder, and Jack Sparrow observed each painting eagerly.

Roshan cooed happily. He knew this place. He had been born here, almost a year ago, and could still remember other members of his tribe scribbling on the walls with paintbrushes, forming pictures of all the animals that lived here.

Only Manfred showed no emotion at the sight of all the paintings. He maintained his normal, grumpy expression, and continued towards the tunnel exit.

* * *

Sid suddenly spotted something on the wall. "Ooh, look! Look! Tigers!" He rushed over to the tiger paintings and pointed them out to Roshan.

At the sight of the scary beasts, the baby let out a frightened whimper, and buried his face in Sid's fur.

'_Oops. My bad,' _Sid thought.

"No, it's alright. Look, the tigers are just playing tag with the gazelles…" He pointed to where a herd of gazelles were running from the pack of sabre-tooth tigers.

All of a sudden, Sid's eyes drifted across another painting…where one of the sabres was biting a gazelle around the neck.

The sloth quickly backed away from the painting. "…with their teeth."

Diego loped up behind the terrified sloth. "Come on, Sid," he smirked. "Let's play tag. You're it."

Sid laughed nervously. "Good one, Diego."

Then he continued searching the walls. "Okay, where are the sloths? Have you noticed you never see any sloths on these things? It's not fair."

Nobody was listening. Jack Sparrow and Diego were looking at other paintings, and Manfred was still walking towards the exit.

Suddenly, Sid spotted something. "Ooh! Look, Manny! A mammoth!"

"Ooh, pinch me," said Manfred in a bored voice.

Diego and Jack, though, wandered over to take a look.

"Hey, this fat one looks like you!" Sid continued. "Aww, and he's got a family! Look, he's playing with his kid."

Manfred suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around to look at the painting.

"See, Manny!" said Sid loudly. "That's your problem!"

"Sid," said Diego.

"You need to find a she-mammoth…"

"Sid."

"…have little baby mammoths…"

"Sid! Shut up!"

"What?" Sid suddenly looked up at Manfred, where the mammoth was staring with huge, sad eyes at the painting.

And then, the sloth realised why Manfred was so grumpy. Why the mammoth was staring at the painting of the mammoths, looking like he was going to cry.

* * *

When Manfred had heard Sid say 'family', his heart had stopped, and filled with dread. With tremendous effort, he had pulled himself around to look at the painting.

He saw the paintings. There was the large, dark-brown male mammoth. There was the tan-coloured female mammoth. And there was the small baby mammoth.

His mate. His child.

His family.

And as Manfred looked, the events of that tragic day came to life again.

* * *

_It was a fine day on the tundra. The summer air was fresh and sweet-smelling. _

_A small group of three mammoths stood on the fresh green grass. Well, two stood. The third, a tiny baby mammoth, bounced around his parents, trumpeting happily as he went. _

_Manfred watched his young son race around him, a feeling of pride welling up inside him. Even at one year old, the tiny mammoth was so curious and energetic. _

_The toddler mammoth raced up to his father, and wrapped his trunk around his fathers. Manfred returned the hug, lifting his son off the ground, before setting him back down on the ground. The mammoth calf squealed happily, and ran off again. _

_Manfred looked at his mate; a beautiful female mammoth, with soft tan fur, gentle brown eyes, and the sweetest voice you ever heard. _

_The female mammoth smiled at Manfred, and they rubbed their heads together and entwined their trunks: the way mammoths showed affection to one another. For a moment, the world seemed to stand still for Manfred. _

_But the moment quickly ended. _

_Their son ran back to them, screaming in fright. _

_And he had good reason to be frightened. Following him where scores of human hunters, wielding sharp metal spears and daggers._

_Manfred and his mate stared, horrified, at the sight. _

_As soon as her calf passed her, Manfred's mate followed him away from the attackers. Manfred stood his ground. He needed to protect his family for as long as he could. Perhaps they could get away. _

_The hunters raced towards him, flinging their spears at him. The sharpened iron tips pierced his thick hide, causing red blood to mingle with his chocolate fur. _

_More and more hunters came. Despite his wounds, Manfred fought bravely. He flung some hunters into the air with his tusks. He knocked some humans back with his trunk. But they kept on coming. There seemed to be no end to the flow of hunters. _

_Suddenly, instinctively, Manfred turned around, to see a horrifying sight. _

_His mate and his child were backed up against a cliff, surrounded by a semicircle of hunters. There was no escape for them. _

_And as the male mammoth watched, several humans on top of the cliff dislodged two huge boulders. They rolled off the edge of the cliff, and fell down, down, down…_

_On top of the female mammoth and her calf._

_Manfred let out a tortured wail, unable to draw his eyes away from the horrible sight._

* * *

The Manfred of the present seemed unable to draw his eyes away from the last picture in the series, either. The one that depicted the death of his family.

Sid, Jack Sparrow, and Diego watched, with wide eyes, waiting to see what Manfred's reaction would be.

Slowly, Manfred turned his watery eyes back to the happiest picture of the series: Manfred and his former mate embracing, as their son raced around them. The mammoth stroked his trunk slowly along the painting of the mammoth calf…

…and his trunk touched something soft and warm.

Manfred blinked himself out of his daze, and looked to see what he had touched.

It was Roshan's hand. Somehow, he had slipped out of Sid's claws and crawled over to the picture. And now, the baby was standing up, supporting himself on the rock wall, smiling innocently up at the mammoth.

Roshan tried to take a step towards Manfred, but as he let go of the wall, the baby wobbled and fell.

Just before the baby hit the floor, Manfred extended his trunk and cushioned Roshan's fall.

Roshan looked up, surprised, at the mammoth's brown, teary eyes.

Manfred smiled down at the baby. While his family was now gone, he knew he would protect this baby through anything.

Roshan opened his arms for a hug.

And Manfred lifted the baby up close; wrapping his trunk around Roshan and pulling him close enough so that the baby could hug him. Tears finally spilled out of Manfred's brown eyes.

* * *

All this emotion was too much for Sid. The sloth sniffed, wiped a big glob of green snot off the end of his nose, and wiped it on Diego.

Diego glared at Sid, causing the sloth to squeak and shuffle away from the angry sabre.

Finally, Manfred placed Roshan on top of his head, and started towards the cave exit. Sid and Jack Sparrow eagerly followed him.

Diego hung back for a second, looking at the picture of the mammoth family together. He was starting to feel a bit uneasy about his task. _'Manfred had his family torn apart by the humans. The human chief has already lost his wife, and now he's going to lose his child…'_

The sabre shook himself out of his thoughts. _'Come on! I'm a remorseless assassin, darn it!'_

Diego slowly loped out of the cave and away from the pictures, following his unknowing victims.

* * *

"What sort of man trades a man's life for a ship?" Elizabeth pouted as she tried to wrap her injured hand in a swab of fabric.

She and Will sat together in the cramped area below the deck of the _Interceptor_, as the vessel sailed northwards.

"A pirate," answered Will simply. Seeing that Elizabeth was struggling to bandage her hand, he gently took the bandage off her. "Here. Allow me."

As carefully as he could, Will Turner wrapped the cloth around Elizabeth Swann's injured hand.

"Thank you," said Elizabeth stiffly.

There was silence for a moment.

Will decided to break it.

"You said you gave your name to Barbossa as mine. Why?" he asked.

Elizabeth stared into Will's sad brown eyes. "I don't know."

Suddenly, she winced and pulled away from him.

"Sorry," Will apologised. "Blacksmith's hands. I know they're quite rough."

Elizabeth tried to smile, but failed. "I…I mean, yes, they are, but…"

Gently, Will tied a knot with the cloth to keep the bandage together. Then his hands slowly moved away.

"…but don't stop," Elizabeth blurted out.

Will looked up, surprised. Slowly, almost instinctively, he leaned closer to her. She did the same.

"Elizabeth," Will whispered, holding her neck and preparing to kiss her…

But she stopped. Slowly, blushing slightly, she pulled something off her neck...something gold, coin sized, with a grinning skull face.

William looked down at it with wide, surprised eyes.

"It's yours," Elizabeth said quietly.

"My medallion," Will gasped. "I thought I'd lost it the day they rescued me."

* * *

_A small merchant vessel sailed through the thick fog. Its crew bustled about, crawling all over the ship like ants. _

_A young boy stood at the side of the ship, holding something in his hand. _

_It was Will Turner. And the thing he held in his hand was a medallion. A gold coin, with a hideous grinning skull face, that had been sent to Will by his father: Bootstrap Bill Turner._

_Will lifted the medallion up in front of his face to get a better look at it, and as he did, something emerged out of the mist._

_Something huge, and black, which towered over the ship Will was on. Slowly, it moved alongside the merchant vessel._

_The captain of Will's ship hailed the other vessel. "AHOY! Who goes there?"_

_No response. _

"_Do you need any assistance?"_

_Still nothing._

_Then all hell broke loose._

_Cannon fire burst out of the sides of the galleon, scattering debris all over the merchant ship's deck. _

_Quickly, Will put his medallion around his neck, and raced towards the side of the ship. His plan was to jump overboard. _

_But just before he did, the opposing ship let loose a volley of cannonballs._

_One cannonball hurtled straight towards the 12 year old boy. _

_The last thing Will remembered was a large wooden plank flying towards him. _

_Then everything went black…_

* * *

"It was a gift from my father," Will murmured to himself. "He sent it to me."

Then he looked up at Elizabeth. "Why? Why did you take it?"

"Because I was afraid that you were…you were a pirate," said Elizabeth truthly.

Will stared at her, shocked.

"I didn't want you to be sent to the gallows. That would've been terrible," she continued.

Slowly, Will came to a conclusion. "It wasn't your blood they needed. It was my father's blood. My blood. The blood of a _pirate_." He clenched his fist (the one still holding the medallion), and his head sunk slowly until his fist collided with his forehead.

"Will!" Elizabeth moaned. "I am so sorry! Please forgive me!"

Suddenly angry, William slammed his hand down hard on the table.

Frightened by his show of aggression, Elizabeth got up, and quickly walked away.

Now that his temper had cooled, Will felt empty and lonely inside. _'What have I done? I frightened her. Every chance I have to make things better I miss.'_

Sadly, he stared down at the medallion. Its skull face leered up at him, unsympathetic as usual.

* * *

The blizzard howled through the narrow canyon. Snow-dunes shifted, shrank, and grew again, losing snow as soon as they gained it. Flying snow revealed some objects, and covered others.

In this case, it covered a set of paw marks in the snow. The paw marks of sabre-tooth tigers.

Just after the paw prints disappeared, a domesticated wolf padded through the snow. It sniffed hard at the cold powder, then whined and retreated back to a figure standing nearby.

Runar looked out onto what could be seen of the canyon. Most of it was hidden in snow, but the silhouettes of craggy rocks and cliffs could be seen through the howling snow.

He looked down to see one of the wolves nudging his leg. Runar pulled a bracelet of beads out from a pocket, and presented it in front of the wolf's nose.

The wolf sniffed around in circles for a minute, then sat back down in front of Runar. Clearly it was unable to find Roshan's scent.

Runar sighed. There was no chance of finding Roshan in this blizzard. It was time to give up the search.

Slowly, Runar looked down at the bead bracelet still in his hand. Traces of Roshan may have faded in the snow, but never from his heart.

The chief shouted something to his men, before he slowly trudged back towards his canoe. Other warriors leaped on board, and then the fleet of Paleo-Indian canoes slowly moved through the snowstorm after the shapes of the British Navy convoy.

Little did Runar know that Roshan was not very far away.

* * *

**Please review!**


	18. Chapter 15: Blowing Holes Everywhere

Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Jack Sparrow walked across a large flat ice plain, just a few kilometres away from the British Navy ships and Paleo-Indian canoes. Up here, the weather was completely different from the snowstorm down in the canyon. The sun shone down on the group as they continued north. They could've been in another world.

Roshan giggled and babbled happily on Manfred's back as they walked along. It seemed that after his encounter with the past in the cave, the bull mammoth had mellowed somewhat. He was now deep in conversation with Diego.

And Jack Sparrow was telling Sid about the _Black Pearl_ and how he wanted to get it back.

"So," said Sid, once the pirate had finished his tale, "you intend to leave this Barbossa on a beach with nothing but a name, while you sail off with his ship which was once yours?"

"No!" laughed Jack. "I expect to leave him standing on some beach with absolutely no name whatsoever, while I sail off with _my _ship…and then I'll shout the name back to him. Savvy?"

He took a ripe green apple, which he had picked from a tree just before they reached the ice plain, and bit into it.

In front of him, Diego squirmed slightly at the sound of chewing. Jack smirked. His theory was correct. _'Though I must give my thanks to Barbossa. If he hadn't marooned me on that godforsaken spit of gravel, I would have my share in the curse, same as him, and the sabre.'_

Suddenly, the pirate felt a little queasy inside. _'I think I feel…sorry…for this Diego.'_

'_Snap out of it, you fool.'_

'_How terrible it must be, not being able to eat or drink.'_

'_He's with Barbossa.'_

'_So?'_

'_So he might lead you into a trap.'_

'_Maybe he has remorse.'_

'_Not bloody likely. He's with Barbossa, and they want to shoot you, cut out your tongue, shoot your tongue, cut your head off, throw your body into the water, which swims around the ship three times…'_

"SHUT UP!" Jack Sparrow screamed to the voices in his head. Unfortunately, he screamed aloud.

Manfred, Sid, and Diego turned to look at the pirate captain. Jack could read their minds. _'Mad as a hatter.'_

"Daydreams," muttered Jack Sparrow, and he sauntered away like nothing had happened.

* * *

Sid shook his head at the pirate captain's insanity. _'Totally crazy.' _Smiling, the sloth followed the mammoth and the sabre.

Ahead of them, the clouds had parted to reveal two black peaks, separated by a gaping hole.

"There it is!" said Jack Sparrow happily, checking his blue compass. "Half Peak."

"Next stop: Glacier Pass," Manfred smiled at Diego. "How could I have ever doubted you?"

"You hear that, little buddy?" Sid asked Roshan. "You're almost home!"

* * *

Just below the giant ice plain rushed a river. This river led up towards Half Peak, and the treasure caves inside the giant mountain.

Magma rising just below the surface had heated the water up to very high temperatures. Steam drifted lazily up from the water, which had turned an acidic turquoise colour due to volcanic gases from the molten rock below.

The _Interceptor_ sailed across these toxic waters, slowly making her way towards a shallow point in the river. Here, her crew planned to wait until the snowstorm in the canyon below had subsided. Then, they would quickly sail down a small creek which joined this river to the Main River below, and catch up to the Navy convoy.

Suddenly, the lookout in the crow's nest spotted something emerging out of the fog. He shouted down to the main deck below.

Quickly, the crew went into action. Swarming all over the ship like ants, they climbed the rigging and loosened the sails. The _Interceptor_ swung around, and quickly sailed off in the opposite direction.

* * *

On board, the commotion alerted Elizabeth that something was wrong. She rushed up the ladder onto the deck to find Mr Gibbs rushing around screaming out orders.

"Hands aloft to loose ta'gallants! With this wind she'll carry every sail we've got!"

"What's happening?" Elizabeth pleaded for information.

"The _Black Pearl_!" shouted Anamaria. "She's gaining on us!"

Sure enough, as Elizabeth Swann leaned over the side to take a look, she saw the huge black bulk and ripped sails of the _Black Pearl_ emerging out of the thick fog.

"But this is the fastest ship in the whole region!" protested Elizabeth to Anamaria. "She's uncatchable!"

"Tell that to them when they've caught us, then," snapped Anamaria.

Suddenly, Elizabeth turned around. "We're shallower on the draft, aren't we?"

"Aye?"

"Then can't we lose them in the shallows over there?"

Joshamee Gibbs looked where Elizabeth was pointing. Sure enough, he could tell that the water was shallower there. The water was a slightly different hue, and waves broke over the tallest rock peaks.

"We don't have to outrun them long!" Gibbs realised. "Just long enough!"

Anamaria nodded, and spun the wheel hard over. The bow of the _Interceptor_ turned towards the shallow riverbank.

"Lighten the ship!" she bellowed. "Stem to stern!"

"Anything that we can afford to lose," added Mr Gibbs, "see that it is lost!"

* * *

Back on the ice, nobody was aware of the commotion just nearby.

But, as Sid walked across the cold surface, he noticed something strange. The ice was no longer cold.

As he looked down, he could see the ice steaming, as something hot started to melt it.

And his feet were slowly getting warmer and warmed.

"My feet are sweating!" Sid called to Manfred.

"Do we have to get a news flash every time your body does something?" growled Diego.

"Just ignore him," the mammoth muttered. "He's doing it for attention."

"No! Seriously, guys!" Sid shouted. "My – feet – are – really – hot! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

The sloth dashed up to the others. Behind him, the ice turned dark purple, as something hot rose up under his surface.

Suddenly, a deep resonant rumbling sound echoed through the air. Jack Sparrow looked warily around.

"Please tell me that was your stomach," Manfred said softly to Sid.

"Aw, I'm sure it's just thunder!" Sid laughed.

The 'thunder' rumbled again.

"From…underground?"

_BOOM!_

Suddenly, a huge spout of lava exploded out of the ice right behind them! Burning chunks of molten rock crashed into the fragile ice, forming even bigger holes, through which more lava emerged!

"RUN!" Manfred screamed.

Nobody needed telling twice. Sid scrambled for cover, as more molten rock burst through the ice. Diego galloped between spouts of lava. Jack Sparrow ran ahead of them all, arms flapping about like a demented pelican.

The thin ice quickly disintegrated around the group. Suddenly, they found themselves on a thin ice bridge. On either side, far below them, was a wide river of carrot-orange lava.

* * *

Beside the toxic river, the ice cliffs which kept the lava and the water apart melted and collapsed. Water started flowing into the hot molten rock. Steam explosions blasted into the air.

But the potential threat of falling into burning lava did not concern the pirates on board the _Black Pearl _at all. They were busy laughing at the _Interceptor's _futile attempts to escape.

Barrels, planks of wood, boxes, and more were tossed off the side of the vessel, where they floated across the river and fell into the lava.

"Haul on the main brace!" bellowed Captain Barbossa. "Make ready the guns!"

A grin crossed his face. "Bo'sun! Run out the sweeps."

The cursed crew got to work. Not only did the pirates do the work, but Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke gripped ropes in their teeth and hauled with all their tiger might. Flaps opened in the black hull, and cannons poked their inquisitive barrels out, ready for action.

Laughing, Pintel hauled on a line attached to the main mast.

Something black slowly ascended the mast, all the way to the very top.

The wind caught the flag, and it unfurled, revealing a grinning skull face, framed by two crossed cutlasses.

* * *

On board the _Interceptor_, the crew became more frantic. Now, they were tossing grappling hooks and cannonballs into the turquoise waters.

Alerted by the shouts on deck, Will Turner climbed up a short ladder and out of the cargo hold.

He rushed to the side of the ship, and leaned over the railings just in time to see black poles slide out of holes in the _Black Pearl's _hull.

Marty tried to toss a cannonball over the side of the _Interceptor_. Will blocked the gap with his foot.

"We're going to need that," he said firmly.

* * *

The _Interceptor _raced across the acidic waters. The _Black Pearl_, with its cloak of mist, easily kept up with her. With each passing second, the pirate galleon came closer and closer to the ex-navy brig.

"It was a good plan," commented Anamaria as she glanced over her shoulder at the approaching ship. "Until now."

Suddenly, Will rushed up the steps onto the quarterdeck. "Gibbs! Load the guns! We have to make a stand!"

Anamaria scoffed. "Load them with what? We've thrown all the cannonballs overboard."

"Then load them with anything. Just what you can find." Will answered simply.

Finally, reluctantly, Gibbs nodded. "Load the guns! Case-shot and langrage! Nails and crushed glass! Anything you can find! Jump to it!"

Anamaria raised her eyes to the sky, shaking her head in mixed amusement and disbelief.

Elizabeth looked at Will. For a moment, their eyes locked, and time stood still.

Then time started again. William dashed down the stairs, followed closely by Elizabeth.

* * *

The crew of the _Interceptor_ grabbed handfuls of cutlery, nails, and anything they could find, and shoved them down the gaping mouths of the cannons.

Joshamee Gibbs and Marty loaded one cannon together. While Marty shoved nails and screws into the cannon, Gibbs took his gourd of rum from his belt.

Before he could drink it, however, Marty grabbed it off him and loaded it into the cannon. For once, Gibbs was too frightened by the approaching threat to retaliate. Instead, he rushed up the ladder onto the deck.

By now, the _Black Pearl_ was closing in fast. Her sweeps; large black oars with sharpened tips, were now rowing steadily, helping speed up the massive galleon.

Mr Gibbs observed her actions. "She's going to luff up on our port quarter! She'll rake us without ever presentin' a target!"

Suddenly, Elizabeth had a brainwave. "Lower the anchor on the right side!" she yelled to Gibbs. "I mean, the starboard side!"

"It certainly has the element of surprise," commented Will.

"You're daft, lady! You both are!" snapped Anamaria.

But Joshamee Gibbs's eyes lit up. "Daft…just like Jack!" he laughed.

Then he rushed over to shout an order to the crew. "Lower the starboard anchor!"

The pirates merely looked at each other, confused.

"DO IT, YA GOBS, OR IT'S YOU WE'LL BE LOADIN' INTO THE CANNONS!"

Finally, the crew sprang into action.

* * *

Up on the crumbling ice bridges above the lava lake, things were very bad.

Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Jack rushed across the melting ice, dodging more and more explosions of lava.

"Come on, keep up with me!" Sid shouted to the others. His legs were moving so fast, they had blurred into a single line.

"Well, we would if you were actually moving," said Diego dryly. The ice was now so slippery that Sid had been only sprinting on the spot.

Exhausted, Sid collapsed in a heap on the ice.

* * *

Manfred paused on a stable bit of ice. Behind him, the thin ice bridge cracked and crumbled, falling into the lava and causing another steam explosion.

"Come on!" Diego shouted impatiently from behind him. "Keep moving!"

"Have you noticed the river of lava?" Manfred shouted back, gesturing with his trunk at the fast-flowing burning river below.

'_Though,' _Manfred thought, _'he has a right to want to hurry. This heat is killing me!'_

From on top of his top-knot, Roshan whimpered loudly. Manfred realised he needed to move.

Slowly and carefully, Manfred tiptoed across another ice bridge to the next stable section. Diego, Sid, and Jack Sparrow quickly followed the mammoth to safety.

* * *

As Jack Sparrow caught his breath, he spotted two objects in the river nearby. Squinting hard, he could make out the outline of the _Interceptor_, seemingly fleeing from the other shape. Despite the distance between Jack and the ships, he could easily recognise it from its black hull and tattered sails.

"The _Black Pearl_…"

* * *

On board the _Interceptor_, the crew finally managed to dump the heavy anchor overboard. It dragged along the volcanic sand underwater before catching on a large lump of rock.

The vessel lurched as the anchor chain tightened. Timbers bent and split.

The motley crew were thrown across the ship. Mr Gibbs, Will, and Elizabeth managed to stay upright, however, by grabbing hold of some ropes.

Deep inside the ship, in the cargo hold, the sudden motion of the _Interceptor_ overturned the table that Elizabeth and Will had sat at merely a few minutes before.

As the table tilted, everything on it slid onto the floor, and the table fell on top of them. The candles, a mug…and the medallion…were all stuck under the heavy wooden table.

* * *

"Let go!" Elizabeth screeched over the tortured creaking of the _Interceptor_ to Anamaria.

The pirate immediately let go of the ship's wheel, which spun around extremely fast. The ship instantly pivoted around, so that its starboard side – with all the cannons ready – was facing the _Black Pearl_.

Barbossa quickly realised what the opposing ship was doing.

"She's club haulin'!" he cried. "Hard a' port! Rack the starboard oars!"

The order was relayed around the ship. The starboard sweeps were quickly retracted, and the ship wheeled over to the left.

The _Black Pearl_ just missed the _Interceptor_. But now, Mr Gibbs and his crew were in a very bad position. The ships were side by side. Each ship was ready to deliver a broadside. But the _Black Pearl_ had many more cannons.

As the ships slowly lined up, the pirates manning the cannons on each ship let out fearsome battle cries and shouted insults at each other.

On the _Black Pearl_, Barbossa pulled his cutlass out, ready for battle.

The crews on both sides fell silent, waiting for the order.

"NOW!" shouted Will.

"FIRE!" bellowed Barbossa.

"FIRE ALL!" screamed Elizabeth.

Then the air was filled with smoke, debris, and the sound of cannon-fire.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

* * *

Even from Jack Sparrow's position above the battle, it was clear to see that both sides were inflicting serious damage to each other.

Blasts from the _Interceptor_ shattered the ornamental wooden decorations and blasted holes in the _Black Pearl's _hull. Bits of wood flew everywhere.

Captain Jack Sparrow flew into a rage.

"STOP BLOWIN' HOLES IN MY SHIP!" he screamed, stamping his feet on the ice like a child in a tantrum. "I'LL HAVE YOU SHOT! AND YOUR TONGUES CUT OUT AND CHOPPED INTO LOTS OF LITTLE BITS AND SERVED UP IN SUSHI! THEN I'LL CHOP YOUR BODIES UP INTO LOTS OF LITTLE BITS, AND I'LL JUMP ON THEM UNTIL I GET BLISTERS ON MY FEET!"

"Could you tell the lava to stop blowing holes in the ice?" asked Manfred weakly, as another lava eruption blasted a hole in the ice just metres away from where the group stood.

But the impenetrable red mist had descended around Jack Sparrow. He hopped up and down, still screaming insults and curses at the _Interceptor_.

* * *

Finally, the barrage of cannon-fire stopped from both the _Interceptor_ and the _Black Pearl_. Both ships had sustained heavy damage. Even the _Interceptor's _ammunition of nails, glass, and cutlery had done its job well.

The hull of the _Black Pearl_ was peppered with knifes and spoons. A fork had managed to lodge itself in Ragetti's wooden eye. And a few pirates had sustained wounds from the flying cutlery.

But most of the _Interceptor's _ammunition had run out. While they were still trying to find more nails and bottles to load into the cannons, the _Black Pearl_ fired another broadside.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Holes emerged throughout the hull of the ex-navy vessel. Huge hunks of wood fell into the steaming water.

The _Interceptor _managed one more shot from one cannon before that was disabled by a flying cannonball. But the cannon's aim was far off, and instead of impacting on the _Black Pearl_, the cannon's contents flew into the air, towards a fast-melting ice platform.

* * *

Up on that ice platform, Jack Sparrow was still jumping up and down in a fit of fury.

Suddenly, several things impacted into the ice at Jack's feet: a few pieces of cutlery, and Mr Gibbs's rum flask.

The pirate captain quickly picked up the gourd, unscrewed the lid, and tilted his head back, preparing to drink the rum in the flask.

However, the gourd was empty. Jack glared at it, and then threw it into the lava.

"Bloody empty," he muttered.

Then, suddenly, something caught his eye. Peeking around Manfred's brown hairy bulk, he could see a rocky cliff not far away!

Quickly, Jack Sparrow sauntered around Manfred, Diego, and Sid, carefully crossing the thin ice bridge that led to the safe ground.

The animals realised that the pirate had located safety. Manfred and Sid rushed across the narrow ice to the next platform.

Just as Sid collapsed, gasping, in front of Manfred, the ice bridge behind them collapsed.

Diego wound himself up…and jumped.

His leap carried him across the burning lava, all the way to the platform where Manfred and Jack stood, and Sid laid.

"Wow!" Sid said in admiration. "I wish I could jump like that!"

"Wish granted!" Manfred snapped, and he kicked Sid hard.

The sloth flew into the air, across the thin ice bridge, and onto the next platform. He slid along the ice until his head smacked into a large lump of ice.

* * *

Down on the _Interceptor_, things were very bad. The ship's hull was fast turning into chicken wire.

Now that the cannons were all disabled, the crew were now firing muskets to try and damage the opposing vessel. Even Elizabeth had her own gun. However, their attempts was quite futile.

"We could use a few more good ideas, lass!" Gibbs shouted to Elizabeth over the blasts of the muskets.

"It's your turn now!" Elizabeth retorted, firing a shot before quickly reloading her gun.

"We need us," said Mr Gibbs slowly, "a devil's dowry."

"Well, then we give them HER!" shouted Anamaria, grabbing Elizabeth by an arm and putting a pistol to her head.

"She's not what they're after!" snapped Will defensively.

Suddenly, Elizabeth remembered that the medallion was no longer around her neck.

"The medallion!" she gasped.

In a flash, Will was across the deck, lifting up the cargo hatch and jumping down into the hold. _'I can't let the pirates have the medallion! They can stay cursed for all eternity as far as I'm concerned!'_

However, there was a slight problem once in the hold. The ship was leaking from several holes in her hull. Will Turner was now ankle deep in water!

Will's eyes widened at the sight of the overturned table. Quickly, he threw the table to one side and started feeling his way along the submerged deck.

* * *

On the _Black Pearl_, Pintel and Ragetti carried a chain-shot cannonball across to their cannon. They had a particularly nasty surprise for the _Interceptor_.

Laughing insanely, the pair loaded the chain shot into their cannon, and prepared to fire.

* * *

Up on the deck, Captain Barbossa and Soto began to shout orders.

"Strike ya colours, ya bloomin' cockroaches!" bellowed Barbossa. "Hands, grapnels at the ready!"

"Prepare to board!" Soto shouted to Lenny, Oscar, and Zeke. "It'll be a long jump, boys!"

That, as it transpired, wasn't necessary.

For Pintel and Ragetti had just fired their chain-shot.

It spun through the air, snapping clean through the mainmast of the _Interceptor_. The tall mast creaked and groaned, toppling over in slow-motion.

It fell on top of the cargo hatch, blocking Will's escape route. A yardarm crashed through the side of the ship, spraying the blacksmith with debris and water. And finally, the top of the mast crashed down on the deck of the _Black Pearl_, breaking the railings and barely missing Soto and Barbossa.

But now, the cursed sabres had an easy way to cross from ship to ship.

Led by Soto, the pack dashed across the fallen mast and onto the _Interceptor_.

"Cutlasses and pistols, men!" called Barbossa to his pirates, as they grabbed their weapons. "Mr Koehler, Mr Twigg, to their powder magazine!"

Koehler and Twigg, laughing gleefully, raced across the mast and to the damaged _Interceptor_.

Hector Barbossa glared at the other pirates. "And the rest of you, bring me that medallion!"

* * *

Down in the rapidly filling cargo hold, Will shook the water out of his stinging eyes. His situation was now desperate. _'I have to get out of here!'_

The blacksmith started thumping at the blocked cargo hatch. "HEY!" he shouted. "BELOW! HELP!"

* * *

By now, pirates were flooding onto the wounded _Interceptor_. Anamaria, Cotton, Marty, and their crew fought valiantly against the enemy, but what chance did they have against cursed pirates and cursed sabres?

As the battle raged on, Barbossa's monkey slipped off his shoulder, and raced across the fallen mast to the other ship. It slipped through tiny holes in the wood, down to the cargo hold where Will Turner was trapped.

More grapnels were flung across from the _Black Pearl_, hooking themselves on ropes and railings. More pirates swung across to join the battle.

Elizabeth and Gibbs, still holding muskets, shot at the incoming pirates. Some of their shots managed to send the evil men tumbling into the acidic ocean. However, most of them missed, or had no effect.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the gunpowder storeroom, Koehler and Twigg had piled up all the remaining barrels of gunpowder, ready to cause a huge explosion.

Just as Twigg was preparing to pour a trail of gunpowder across several fallen planks, Soto trotted down the steps and looked at the pirates.

"That won't be necessary," he said with an evil grin. "She's drifting towards the lava."

Twigg and Koehler burst into maniacal laughter, as they threw the gunpowder barrel back onto the pile. Then, they raced up the steps, pulling out their swords and flintlock pistols as they leaped back into the battle.

* * *

Will was still trapped in the cargo hold, trying in vain to get someone's attention. The water was now up to his chest and still rising fast.

Suddenly, he heard a happy screech from nearby. Will turned to see Barbossa's monkey, sitting on a dry beam…holding the medallion!

"Come here, you…!" Will snarled, but it was too late. Cackling, the monkey disappeared through a gap in the deck above.

* * *

Meanwhile, above on deck, Elizabeth was fighting two pirates at once. She landed a punch directly on the first pirate's jaw, sending him reeling. But the second pirate had just pulled out a cutlass.

"That's not very nice," Elizabeth said coolly.

Confused, the pirate paused, giving Elizabeth enough time to whack him in the guts and send him toppling overboard.

Suddenly, a series of musket shots from the _Black Pearl_ sent the woman ducking for cover behind a crate. There, right next to her, was Mr Gibbs, who was still bravely firing musket shots back at the pirates.

When he saw her, Gibbs looked slightly surprised. "Elizabeth!" he exclaimed. "Do ye have any idea where the kid is? We could use his help here!"

Elizabeth gasped as she remembered.

"Will!"

Quickly, she raced across the deck, leaving a rather confused Joshamee Gibbs behind.

She wove between duelling pirates, men still firing their muskets, and injured bodies on the deck.

Finally, she came to the cargo hatch which Will had opened merely minutes ago. To her horror, the mainmast had collapsed right over the hatch.

"Will!" she screamed into the gaps in the hatch.

"Elizabeth!" came a slightly muffled reply.

Quickly, Elizabeth started trying to pry open the hatch. Will used a block of wood to help.

And out of sight to both of them, the monkey scrambled over the mast back to the _Black Pearl_.

* * *

Will pushed up on the hatch with all his might. He could hear Elizabeth grunting with effort above him as she tried to open the hatch as well.

But it seemed to all be in vain.

"It's too heavy!" Elizabeth called down. "I can't…"

Suddenly, she screamed and disappeared. Through the gaps in the hatch, Will saw two laughing sabre-tooth tigers pulling her away.

"ELIZABETH!" he shouted.

* * *

Barbossa watched the scene of destruction in front of him. The _Interceptor_ was listing badly to starboard and sinking fast. But she was also steadily drifting towards the lava lake, where water was now flowing down into the hot molten rock. Steam hissed up from where the cold liquid met the hot.

The _Interceptor_, and any survivors on board, would meet a nasty end.

Suddenly, Captain Barbossa heard a screech. He looked to see his monkey racing across the fallen mainmast of the _Interceptor_…carrying the Aztec medallion.

His heart – or it's blackened, evil remains, at least – leaped.

The monkey leaped onto Barbossa's shoulder, and deposited the medallion into his open hand.

Captain Hector Barbossa held the medallion up in the air for all his crew, and the sabre pack, to see.

"Gents!" he cried. "Our hope is restored!"

And wherever they were, either tying up prisoners, manning the cannons, or destroying weapons, the pirates and sabres let out a resounding, victorious cheer.

* * *

Will, on the other hand, seemed to have run out of luck. The water had almost reached the top of the cargo hold and he was bumping his head against the deck.

Taking a final deep breath, Will dove into the turquoise water.

The acid in the water stung his eyes, but he kept them open, searching for an escape route.

He tried to remove a heavy beam that was blocking a hole, but it didn't budge. And now the blacksmith was running out of breath.

Suddenly, Will thought he spotted something. Quickly, he kicked his way around the floating table and disappeared.

* * *

**Another cliffhanger! Dun dun dun!**

**Please review if you like it!**


	19. Chapter 16: There's Always a Second Time

"An' if any one of you so much as _thinks_ the word 'parley'," Pintel snarled at the prisoners now lined up on the _Black Pearl_, "I'll have your guts for garters!"

Elizabeth hardly noticed what the stout pirate was saying. She was watching Captain Barbossa.

The cursed captain was watching the wrecked _Interceptor_ as his slowly drifted sideways. A small, satisfied smile sat on his face.

Suddenly, Elizabeth realised why Barbossa was grinning. And where the _Interceptor_ was going to end up.

"Stop!" she shrieked, slipping under the ropes that tied her to the mast, and racing towards the captain.

But she was too late.

In slow motion, the _Interceptor _toppled over the giant waterfalls…and into the lava lake.

* * *

_BOOM!_

Dozens of barrels of gunpowder ignited in the heat of the molten rock.

A huge mushroom cloud of black smoke and debris rose up from behind the waterfall. Shattered pieces of hull and mast flew into the air. There was absolutely no chance that anybody could have survived this.

Even up on the unstable ice bridges, Jack Sparrow, Manfred, and Sid winced as the _Interceptor_ was blown into smithereens.

* * *

Elizabeth's eyes widened as she saw the explosion. "Will!" she gasped.

Suddenly filled with hate and fury, she rushed at Barbossa.

"YOU HEARTLESS, GODLESS PIRATE!" she screamed, grabbing the captain around the neck.

But Barbossa merely grabbed her arms and twisted around to face her. "Welcome back, _miss_!" he snarled. "Last time ye took advantage of our hospitality." His face twisted into an evil grin. "It only holds fair that ye return the favour!"

And he shoved her into a mass of cackling _male_ pirates. Instantly, they started swarming about her, pulling her hair and tugging at her dress.

Elizabeth screamed and squealed in protest, but nothing she did could ward off the pirates around her.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cried out. "BARBOSSA!"

Standing on the railing of the _Black Pearl_, was a soaking wet figure with angry brown eyes and dark hair plastered to his face.

It was Will Turner.

* * *

The call carried all the way across the steaming river, over the scalding lava, even all the way to the unstable ice platforms, where Manfred, Sid, Diego, Roshan, and Jack Sparrow were balancing.

"Wait a minute," Manny said, cocking his head at the sound of the voice. "Isn't that Will Turner?"

Jack Sparrow grunted something intelligible.

"Must be," Sid commented, squinting at the tiny figure visible on the side of the _Black Pearl_.

"I wonder what happened to him? I mean, he just disappeared."

Jack grunted something else. He had a good guess what had happened with Will, and why he had been knocked out.

* * *

Down on the pirate ship, Will leaped down from the railing, picked up a loaded pistol, and pointed it at Barbossa. "She goes free!" he snarled.

"What's in yer head, boy?" Barbossa cackled.

"She goes free," the blacksmith repeated, glaring at the pirate.

Hector Barbossa chuckled loudly, while Elizabeth continued to struggle against the swarm of pirates.

"You've only one shot, boy. And we can't die."

Will stopped, confused.

* * *

"Please, please don't do anything stupid…" Jack Sparrow muttered under his breath.

But a moment later, Will's voice rung out again, as he leaped back up to the railing and put something to his neck.

"You can't. I can, though!"

"…like that." Jack groaned.

* * *

Still in the clutches of the scrum of pirates, Elizabeth struggled even harder.

"Who are ye, boy?" Barbossa asked.

"My name is Will Turner!" Will called. "My true father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins."

Ragetti raised a shaking hand and pointed at Will. "It's the spittin' image of ol' Bootstrap Bill come back to haunt us!" he whimpered.

"Now, do as I say!" Will snapped. "Or I'll pull this trigger, and be lost to Davy Jones's locker!"

"Name your terms, then," Barbossa said coolly.

"Elizabeth goes free!"

"Yes, we _know_ that one. Anything else?"

Will thought for a second, then pointed at the former crew of the _Interceptor_. "And the crew! They're not to be harmed!"

Hector Barbossa gave Will a yellow-toothed grin. "Agreed, Mr Turner!"

* * *

Back on the ice platforms, Jack Sparrow's plan had fallen to pieces. Now the secret was out about Will Turner having the blood needed to free the pirates and sabres from the terrible Aztec curse. He could see Diego staring down at the figure that was Will, with a terrible longing in his eyes.

But Jack's plan wasn't the only thing crumbling around him. The ice platform they stood on was rapidly melting, and falling to pieces.

Manfred, Sid, Diego, Roshan, and the pirate captain only had to cross one last ice bridge to the safety of the cliff now. As more spouts of lava burst up around them, it became clear that they needed to move.

Quickly, Jack Sparrow raced across the melting ice bridge, followed closely by Sid.

* * *

As soon as Jack and Sid had crossed, Manfred prepared to race across as well.

But soon he saw that the bridge would not support his ten-ton weight at all. It was melting faster than ever.

Roshan wailed in fear, burying his face in the mammoth's poofy fur.

Manfred gritted his teeth. _'I can do this. For the baby. For Pinky.'_

With a tremendous effort, the mammoth leaped over the cracking and crumbling ice bridge, and landed hard on the opposite ledge.

* * *

Directly behind him, the bridge broke into pieces and tumbled into the lava. Another steam explosion shot skywards as the cold ice hit the hot molten rock.

Diego flinched as the scalding steam roared past threateningly close to his face. Even though he was cursed, that didn't mean he couldn't feel pain.

'_Still, I'm not cursed for much longer now.'_

Finally, the huge spout of steam ceased. A huge gap now stood between Diego and the safety of the cliff.

The sabre-tooth tiger did not know if he could make it to the opposite ice ledge. But he would give it his best shot.

Winding himself up, Diego leaped again.

He flew through the air, towards the safety of the ice ledge so tantalisingly close…

But the sabre hadn't jumped far enough.

His front paws and head landed on the ice. His body didn't.

Diego was now hanging on a crumbling ledge of ice, above a burning caldron of lava. As pieces of ice tumbled from the bottom of the ice ledge, Diego could feel his claws slowly losing their grip.

'_Not good. Not good.'_

* * *

Down on the _Black Pearl_, things were not good for Elizabeth either.

She was standing on the edge of a long wooden plank extending from the side of the anchored pirate galleon, over the vast waterfall plummeting into the lava. Hot steam roared upwards onto her face, while sharp swords and cutlasses poked her back from behind.

Elizabeth looked around to see the jeering, laughing faces of scores of pirates, lining the side of the _Black Pearl_ to see her plunge into red-hot molten rock.

Suddenly, a figure burst through the crowd of pirates and rushed at Barbossa.

It was Will.

"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" he bellowed at the captain. "You swore she'd go free!"

"Don't dare impugn me honour, boy!" Hector Barbossa snapped. "I agreed she'd go free. But since you failed to specify when or where, I thought here and now would be good enough."  
All the pirates laughed heartily. Will, still struggling, was quickly gagged and led away by a gang of buccaneers.

"Though," Barbossa leered, "it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it, lads?"

"_Aye,"_ chorused the crew.

"So," the captain said to Elizabeth, "we'll have that pretty dress back, before ye go, if ye don't mind."

Glaring at the pirates, Elizabeth Swann tore off her dress and threw it at Barbossa. The pirates laughed and wolf-whistled as she did so.

"It goes with your black heart," Elizabeth snarled at the captain.

Barbossa merely responded with a grin. As he walked away, Elizabeth heard him say, "Ooh, it's still warm."

Carefully, she turned back to the plank extending over the waterfalls. Slowly, she started walking along the plank, all the way to the end.

"Off ye go! Go on!" the pirates shouted.

Then, Elizabeth stopped. She didn't want to die. _'What can I do?'_

"TOO LONG!" roared Soto suddenly, and he stomped hard on the other end of the plank.

Screaming, Elizabeth flew in the air…and tumbled down, down, down, towards the lava...

* * *

Elizabeth blinked.

Her body ached all over. And she could feel an intense heat radiating through a hot hard surface into her body.

'_Where am I? I can't have survived that fall! But I'm not dead!'_

Slowly, Elizabeth raised her body off the surface, and looked down at it. It was a slab of rock.

Curious about the heat, she looked up.

Surrounding her everywhere was churning, frothing, smoking lava.

Elizabeth let out a startled gasp.

Suddenly, a tall pillar of ice collapsed right next to her rock raft. A huge wave of molten rock nearly engulfed Elizabeth, just missing her by centimetres.

Elizabeth screamed.

* * *

The scream from far below caused Manfred to suddenly look around. He could not see Elizabeth…but he saw Diego, hanging by his claws from the disintegrating ice ledge.

Manfred knew what he had to do.

"Hold Pinky!" he said to Sid, quickly placing the baby in the sloth's arms.

Then, the mammoth slowly started edging his way along the crumbling ledge, towards the slowly slipping sabre.

* * *

Captain Jack Sparrow had heard Elizabeth's scream too. Confused, he had searched for the source of the sound…until his eyes had fell upon a small rock raft, being tossed to and fro by huge waves of lava. And sitting on the slab of stone was a woman in a white night-dress…

"Elizabeth…" Jack breathed.

Suddenly, something clicked inside his head. He couldn't leave Elizabeth to burn in the lava. That was too inhuman, even for a pirate. He had no choice. He had to save her.

But how?

* * *

Diego watched Manfred slowly shuffle along the cracking ice ledge towards him. As the mammoth slowly eased his ten-ton weight towards the sabre, the ledge groaned and creaked ominously, threatening to break off at any moment.

Slowly, Diego extended a paw towards Manfred's outstretched trunk. Suddenly, though, he slipped, and only hooked a claw into the ice just in time.

* * *

Back on the cliff, Jack Sparrow was pacing around and around in a circle, trying to brainstorm how to rescue Elizabeth without killing her (or, more importantly, himself).

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in his head.

Quickly, Jack ran over to the side of the cliff, where many large chunks of ice hung over the cliff.

Pulling out his sword, the pirate stabbed a particularly large block of ice at its weakest point. Two large cracks extended from the sword puncture, swiftly making their way to the edge of the ice chunk.

Retrieving his sword, Jack Sparrow gave the creaking, rocking block of ice a strong kick. With a loud groan, the chunk of ice detached from the cliff, and tumbled down, down, down, towards the lava.

Just as Elizabeth, still on her rock raft and still being battered by gigantic waves of burning molten rock, drifted past, the falling ice hit the ice right next to her.

_WHOOSH!_

A huge steam explosion propelled Elizabeth into the air. Her figure flew into the sky, then, arms and legs flailing, slowly started to fall.

Jack Sparrow watched as the woman started to fall. Fuelled by a strange, heroic instinct, he rushed along towards the crumbling ice ledge, trying to catch the plummeting damsel.

* * *

Meanwhile, Manfred was almost near enough to grab Diego. But the sensible side of his brain told him that he could not go any further without causing the whole ledge – with himself and Diego – to tumble into the burning lava.

"Give me your paw!" the mammoth bellowed.

Slowly, Diego reached out with one paw, slowly inching closer and closer to Manfred's extended trunk…

…when suddenly, the end of the ice ledge collapsed.

Just as Diego started to drop, Manfred lunged…and caught the sabre's still-extended paw.

Hanging from the mammoth's trunk, Diego looked up in surprise.

Suddenly, another steam blast shot up from the lava, carrying the broken end of the ice ledge with it. Diego flinched as the scalding steam flew upwards threateningly close to his face.

* * *

Jack Sparrow watched Elizabeth's body tumbling down towards the ice ledge where Diego was still hanging from Manfred's trunk. Still powered by the noble instinct, he raced onto the crumbling ledge, arms outstretched to catch the falling damsel.

Elizabeth Swann finally landed in Jack's arms. The pirate stumbled backwards at the force of the landing.

But the combined weight of two humans, a sabre, and a large woolly mammoth was too much for the weakened overhang of ice. It splintered and cracked at its weakest point…right where it met the cliff.

Sid the sloth had watched in amazement as the two heroic acts played out in front of him. First, Manfred, after placing Roshan in the sloth's arms, had saved Diego from falling into the lava. At the same time, Jack Sparrow had used a steam explosion to blast Elizabeth into the air and into his waiting arms.

But Diego was still hanging from the end of Manfred's long trunk, trying to climb up it. Sid could see the pained look on the mammoth's face as the sabre's sharp claws dug into his trunk.

And Jack Sparrow was struggling to keep on his feet while still holding Elizabeth.

_CRACK!_

The entire ledge suddenly dropped a few centimetres, causing its passengers to lurch and stumble.

Quickly, Manfred pulled Diego up from the end of the overhang, and threw the tiger onto safe land. Diego rolled along the slippery snow and ice until he came to a halt next to Sid.

Another _crack_ rung out as the overhang of ice dropped some more. With a loud grunt, Jack Sparrow threw a gasping Elizabeth from his arms to the cliff.

Then the ledge gave out a mighty groan.

Manfred and Jack Sparrow stared back at Sid, Elizabeth, and Diego with wide, frightened eyes.

"Oh bugger," said Jack quietly.

With a final, deafening _CRACK_, the overhang broke off from the cliff, and plummeted towards the lava below. The mammoth and the pirate disappeared from view.

"MANNY!" screamed Sid.

Diego's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in horror.

And Elizabeth let out a gasp of surprise as the scream of Jack Sparrow and the terrified trumpet of Manfred slowly receded away.

The trumpeting and screaming suddenly stopped.

Then there was silence.

* * *

Sid, Diego, and Elizabeth stared at the spot where the mammoth and the pirate had disappeared, the horror taking its time to sink in. They couldn't accept that Manfred and Jack had died. They must have survived somehow.

But there was nothing.

Nothing.

Then, suddenly, there was something.

A huge blast of hot steam exploded past the edge of the cliff, up towards the dark cloudy sky. And carried by the huge geyser were several chunks of ice…and Jack Sparrow and Manfred

As the force of the steam explosion died away, the mammoth and the human started to fall. They plummeted through the air, down towards the hard rock surface below…

_CRASH!_

The mammoth crashed into the ground at an almighty speed, jolting the ground and causing Sid, Diego, and Elizabeth Swann to fly upwards for a moment, before they were deposited back onto the hard rock.

* * *

Slowly, Sid the sloth looked up to see the two figures in front of him. So did Diego and Elizabeth.

Jack Sparrow, his jacket now stained with black burn marks, was slowly lifting his aching body off the ground.

But Manfred's body was lying frozen on the ground. His eyes were closed tightly, and he was not moving at all.

Suddenly fearful, Sid raced over to his mammoth friend. "Manny! Manny! Manny!" he cried. "Are you okay?"

No answer.

Roshan slipped out of Sid's claws and put his hand on the mammoth's trunk.

There was still no answer or movement from Manfred.

"Come on, Manny, talk to me!" Sid pleaded desperately. "Talk to me! Say something! Anything!"

Still no answer.

Jack Sparrow slowly bowed his head in mourning. Tears slowly slid their way down Elizabeth's cheeks. And Diego had an expression of complete shock and grief on his face.

"Please, Manny, please," Sid moaned, his voice starting to wobble with emotion. "Please say something."

Suddenly, the mammoth's eyelids fluttered, and his mouth moved.

"Yrrrr…nnndddd…mhhhh…tnnnnkkk…"

"What? What's that? I can't hear you?" Sid asked, uncertain whether to be happy or concerned. For all he knew, these could be the mammoth's last words.

"You're standing," Manfred said in a weak, breathless voice, "on my trunk."

"Oh!" Sid gasped, leaping off the mammoth's trunk. Manfred let out a deep gasp, finally getting the oxygen he needed into his body.

The joyous sloth danced around and around the mammoth, singing, "He's okay! He's okay!"

* * *

Diego looked, confused, at Manfred's now open eyes. "Why did you do that?" he asked slowly. "You could have died trying to save me!" _'Nobody ever does that in our pack. It's every tiger for himself.'_

The mammoth looked back at the tiger. "That's what you do in a herd. You look out for each other."

"Well," Diego smiled uncertainly, "thanks."

"I don't know about you," Sid laughed, "but we're the strangest herd I've ever seen!"

* * *

As Manfred picked himself up and started towards Half Peak again, Elizabeth turned around to see if Jack Sparrow was following.

He wasn't.

The pirate was slumped on the ground, staring out at the lava fields with sad eyes.

"Come on, Jack, let's go!" Elizabeth shouted at him.

Jack didn't move or answer.

"We're almost there! This is no time to have a rest!"

Again, no response.

Sighing, Elizabeth turned around and headed back to Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Roshan.

* * *

Jack Sparrow was stricken with grief.

His beloved tricorn hat was gone.

The hat which Jack had stolen from another pirate captain all those years ago, the hat which had held water for him when he was crossing a vast and merciless desert in the South, the hat which he had worn on many adventures…

He had lost it to the lava. And a little bit of himself had been lost with it.

'_I can't go on without it.'_

Gasping, Jack stared out at the lake of molten rock, his brain frozen with sadness…

…when all of a sudden, something rolled along the cliff edge and stopped at his feet.

The mourning pirate didn't give it a thought at first. But then he noticed that it had a familiar shape and colour.

Jack looked down at the object.

It was slightly burnt and battered. Smoke drifted lazily up from the scorched leather. But it was still, unmistakably…

Jack Sparrow's precious tricorn hat.

It had survived.

And, in a way, so had Jack.

* * *

Manfred paused at the top of a tall bank, waiting for the last member of their group. From on top of the snowy hill, he could see the human figure racing towards the bank, flapping his arms about as he ran.

A smirk crossed the mammoth's face at the sight of Jack Sparrow's crazy run.

Finally, the pirate stopped at the crest of the bank, gasping for air. Manfred noticed that the pirate was once again wearing his tricorn hat.

As he caught his breath, Jack suddenly looked around to see something slowly moving along the river. Manfred followed the pirate's gaze just in time to see the stern end of the _Black Pearl_ disappear into the fog.

"That's the second time," Jack grumped, "I've watched that idiot sail off with _my _ship."

"So?" Elizabeth asked coolly. "We can still get to Half Peak!"

The pirate sighed. "To what purpose, young missy? We will be vastly outnumbered, and young Mr Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

"But that's the point!" Manfred said. "You're Captain Jack Sparrow. You do things with no purpose."

Jack Sparrow nodded slowly, an idea forming in his head.

Finally, he came to a decision. "Alright. We'll all go to Half Peak, I can get my ship back, like I promised meself, Elizabeth can rescue Will and marry Norrington, like she promised, and you guys," he said, pointing at Manfred, Sid, and Diego, "can get the baby back to his father and then go back to your regular, boring lives, just like you promised. So we're all men of our words, really…except Elizabeth, who is in fact, a _woman_."

* * *

Sid watched Jack Sparrow start to saunter off towards the cloud-covered rocky points of Half Peak. He had a question he was itching to ask the pirate as soon as he could."

"Why did you rescue Elizabeth, though?" the sloth asked. "You're a pirate. Pirates are selfish. They think only of themselves."

Jack paused. Then he turned back to look Sid in the eye.

"That's a generalisation," he grinned. "That doesn't mean there aren't exceptions to that…savvy?"

Then Jack Sparrow sauntered down the bank and along the path leading towards Half Peak's hidden bulk.

Sid smiled widely. He was feeling a lot better about Jack. Now the pirate was becoming someone you could count as a friend.

The sloth started after the slowly receding figure that was Captain Jack Sparrow. Manfred, Elizabeth, and Diego followed them along the snowy path.

Above them, the sky slowly became darker, and the wind started to pick up.

A snowstorm was on its way.

* * *

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	20. Chapter 17: Baby's First Steps

As the blizzard approached, huge dark clouds slowly marched across the blue sky. Small flakes of snow started drifting downwards towards the frozen land, only to be unsettled and blown about by the strengthening breeze.

Down on the toxic river accessing Half Peak, the wind was increasing rapidly,, and the sky was ominously dark. Larger and larger snowflakes pelted down onto the deck of the _Black Pearl_, as it fought its way upriver to the sheltered cove.

But the cursed crew of the vessel were unfazed and unaffected by the deteriorating conditions. They climbed up and down thin rope ladders, trimming the tattered black sails in preparation for the high winds.

And standing on the deck, their fur rippling in the freshening breeze, were four sabre-tooth tigers…

"Ooh, I can't wait to get my claws into that _mammoth_!" cackled Zeke. "And then sink my teeth into his warm flesh!"

"Nobody touches the mammoth until I have that baby!" snarled Soto as he loped past.

Zeke nodded meekly as his leader passed by. As soon as Soto had passed, however, he started to shake with anticipation.

"First," he said to himself, "I'll slice its hindquarters into sections. I'll put all the red meat in one pile, and the white meat in the…"

"Knock it off!" growled chubby Lenny. "I'm starving!"

Zeke didn't listen.

"Next are the shoulders," he continued. "Occasionally tough…but extremely juicy!"  
"I told you to _knock it off_!" shouted Lenny, raising a paw to swipe at the thin, scrawny sabre next to him…

…when Soto grabbed the sabre's raised leg.

"Save your energy!" he snapped. "Mammoth's don't go down easy, don't you know that?"

The leader of the pack dropped Lenny's leg, and slowly advanced towards the tubby scimitar cat. Zeke and Oscar grouped in behind him.

Lenny whimpered and backed away from his leader.

"Cursed or un-cursed, there's only one way to do it,' growled Soto. "First, you force it into a corner. Cut off its retreat. And when you three have it trapped, I'll go for the throat!"

Lenny gulped and instinctively covered his neck with a paw.

At the sight of the scimitar cat's fear, Soto grinned, a horrid, evil grin that could have easily frightened Fear itself.

Meanwhile, down below decks, Pintel and Ragetti mopped the wooden-plank floor of thebrig.

The _Black Pearl's _brig was fairly large. Under Hector Barbossa's command, the cursed crew had added several more cells to the original four, so that the pirates could take more people as prisoner during battles.

Currently, though, only two cells were occupied. One cell was filled with the former crew of the former _HMS Interceptor_. Cotton, Cotton's parrot, Mr Gibbs, Anamaria, Marty, and several other surviving crew members were squished up in the cell.

The sole occupant of the other cell was Will Turner.

"_AWK! Shiver me timbers," _squawked Cotton's parrot.

Mr Gibbs looked at the parrot, and then turned his head to Pintel, who was caulking the deck just beside their cell.

"Cotton says you missed a bit," he informed the pirate.

Pintel snarled, and shoved his soaking mop at Mr Gibbs, All the occupants of that cell quickly moved away from the wet dirty mop.

There was silence for a moment. Then Pintel continued washing the deck.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

Finally, Will looked Pintel in the eye.

"You knew William Turner," he said simply.

Pintel stared back at Will. "Ol' Bootstrap Bill. Aye, we knew 'im."

He leaned on his mop. The brig was now silent, as everybody listened to Pintel's story. Even Ragetti had stopped mopping and wandered over beside his comrade.

"Never sat well with Bootstrap, what we did to Jack Sparrow, the mutiny and all," the stout pirate continued. "He said it wasn't right with the Code. That's why he sent a piece of the treasure off to you, as it were."

Pintel snarled. "He said we deserve to be cursed…and remain cursed."

"Stupid blighter," Ragetti muttered.

"Good man!" Gibbs called from the other cell.

Pintel ignored him. "But as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the captain."

"No," Ragetti sniggered, "that didn't sit too well with the captain at all. Tell them what Barbossa did."

"I'M TELLING THE STORY!" Pintel roared into Ragetti's face, showering the tall, thin pirate with spittle.

Then he turned back to Will. "So, what the captain did, he strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps."

"Bootstrap's bootstraps," sniggered Ragetti, cackling loudly until a furious stare from his crewmate shut him up.

"An' the last we all saw of Bill Turner," Pintel grinned horribly, "was him sinkin' down to the crushin' black oblivion of Davy Jones' Locker."

Will's eyes widened in horror. His father had died a horrid, death that he hadn't deserved at all.

Pintel sighed. "Course, it was _after _that that we learned that we had needed his blood to undo the curse."

"Now that's what you call _ironic_," Ragetti put in.

The podgy pirate looked at his skinny, lanky friend...and they both burst into laughter at the exact same time.

Will gave both of them an angry glare. _'They all deserve to remain cursed until the end of the world. All of them.'_

It was now past sunset. The blizzard was howling across the landscape at full strength.

The snow was falling so thick and fast that Manfred the mammoth could hardly see the track in front of his face. And the intense cold was biting through his thick insulating fur and into his skin.

'_Heck, if I can feel the cold…what about the kid?'_

"Guys!" he bellowed over the howling gale. "We've gotta get this kid out of the wind!"

Everybody shouted their agreement. They were all freezing cold, especially Elizabeth, who was wearing only her thin nightgown which offered no protection against the harsh wind.

Manfred's eyes suddenly spotted a small cave nestled in the rock of a nearby cliff. The cave was quite small, but it was deep enough to offer shelter from the gale.

"Over here!" the mammoth shouted, leading the others into the cave. Quickly, Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth, Sid, and Diego trudged through the thick snow into the small alcove.

It was cosy inside the cave. The wind and the snow could not reach inside the alcove, and there were small clumps of moss here and there on the cave floor; just enough to make a soft bed for Elizabeth.

Everybody collapsed down on the floor of the cave, too tired to stand up any longer.

Nobody spoke for several minutes.

"How much further?" Elizabeth heard Manfred ask to Diego.

"Ten miles. Another day's walk."

The mammoth sighed, looking up at the silhouette of Half Peak, appearing and then vanishing in the waves of falling snow. His legs were weary from the many miles they had already travelled. "I'm beat. We'll get there in the morning."

Elizabeth nodded in agreement. Her feet were tired and cold from endless walking in the snow. Sure, she had found some tattered shoes on board the _Interceptor_, but they were extremely uncomfortable to walk in.

"That's a good idea. We'll have a rest tonight. What do you think, Jack?"

No response.

"JACK?!"

"M' right here, luv."

Elizabeth suddenly heard the sound of footsteps in the snow…and the sound of glass on glass.

_Clink! Clink!_

Jack Sparrow emerged at the mouth of the cave, his arms laden with several large objects. It was only when he came closer that Elizabeth realised they were bottles full of a dark tan-coloured liquid: rum.

"The rum-runners had a secret cache just around there," Jack commented happily, depositing his load of rum bottles on the floor of the cave. "They seem to have been out of business for quite a while, though. This is all that's left. You can thank your bloody friend Norrington for that."

"So you're just going to sit down and drink _rum_?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "Is that all you do?"

"Welcome to the Ice Age, luv."

The lady glared at the pirate. "What do you think, it helps?" she snapped.

Jack Sparrow gave her a look. "When I was marooned on that tiny frozen spit of land, I was there a grand total of three days. I had nothing to drink for the first two days. Then I found a cache of rum."

"Let me guess," Elizabeth said in an icy voice. "You spent the next day lying on a beach drinking rum, until a ship came along and you were able to bargain passage off."

"Exactly," Jack said happily.

Then he sauntered past her, uncorking his bottle of rum and tilting his head back.

Elizabeth sighed. Was this the real truth behind the glamorous tales of pirates? All she knew was they weren't what she had thought they were.

Manfred smirked, watching the pirate gulp down the rum. "Here we go," he muttered to Diego. "It's going to be a long night

The sabre nodded. "If that guy has one fault, it's drinking.'

"All pirates do," the mammoth commented. "But, deep down, he's showed us that he's still human. You don't often find a pirate willing to risk their life for the life of somebody else."

Diego nodded again.

Suddenly, Manfred heard a scratching noise from behind. The sound of something scratching against rock.

He turned to see Sid, holding a small piece of chalk, drawing something on the back of the cave.

"What are you doing?" the mammoth asked.

"I'm putting sloths on the map," Sid repied, drawing a few more lines before standing back to admire his work, paws on hips.

Manfred studied Sid's drawing as well. In his opinion, it wasn't exactly a masterpiece.

The sloth on the wall had a wonky rectangle for its body and head, with two long lines for arms and two small squares for feet. Two more squares represented paws. Lines extending out from the feet and paws were claws. The sloth also had a nose, a mouth (with the uneven buck teeth) and the bug-eyes that were a signature mark of the sloth species. It was the kind of picture that a four year old school-kid would draw, thousands of years in the future.

Manfred snorted softly, amused by Sid's ridiculously unrealistic interpretation of how he looked.

'_Has he ever checked his reflection?'_

Sid smiled proudly, looking once again at his drawing. He was very proud of it.

Suddenly, there was a snort from behind him. The sloth turned to see Jack Sparrow, holding his bottle of rum, looking at the picture.

"You could've drawn him more realistically," he said, "by making him lying down."

While Sid was shocked by this comment, Manfred used his trunk to snatch the chalk out of the sloth's claws.

"Make him rounder," instructed Diego, with a sneer on his face.

The mammoth was only too happy to comply. He sketched a round pot belly on the sloth's body.

"There! Perfect," the sabre commented.

Sid glared at Manfred and Diego. _'How dare they mutilate my drawing!' _Now it looked more like a pear with arms and legs than a sloth.

"Ha, ha, ha," the sloth snapped sarcastically, snatching back his fragment of chalk. "I forgot how to laugh."

Then he started scratching out the chubby light-bulb shaped sloth, rapidly scraping the bit of chalk up and down on the hard rock wall.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light. A shower of sparks fell from the wall as Sid brought his chalk down at incredible speeds.

One solitary spark landed on a small pile of dry twigs.

And, slowly, a small orange flame started to flicker on the cave floor.

Manfred's eyes widened. So did Elizabeth's and Diego's.

Sid let out a wild whoop. _'Yes! I did it! I made fire!"_

"I'm a genius!" he cried, kissing his chunk of chalk.

Within an hour, the small flickering flame had turned into a merrily crackling fire, fed by small branches and sticks gathered from around the cave.

The snowstorm was now dying down, but the temperatures outside remained freezing cold.

Thanks to Sid's blazing bonfire inside, however, the cave and its six occupants were toasty warm.

Sid fed another small branch into the fire, smiling proudly at his creation.

Then he turned to Manfred, and Diego, lying in the light of the fire, watching him with bemused eyes.

"From now on," Sid announced in a haughty voice, striking a majestic pose, "you shall have to refer to me as 'Sid, Lord of the Flame!'"

Manfred smirked. He had noticed something the sloth hadn't: that Sid's tail was too close to the fire.

"Hey, 'Lord of the Flame!'" he called. "Your tail's on fire!"

Sid's eyes widened. His head whipped around to see a small smoke trail, coming from the end of his tail…glowing orange in the heat of a flame!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sid screamed, racing around and around the campfire, his paws flapping around in panic as his tail burned. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Diego watched as the sloth sprinted around and around, screaming in pain as the flame slowly crept up his tail. Part of the sabre found Sid's antics very amusing, and could easily watch the sloth racing around the fire for hours. But another part of him – a kinder part, which had been awoken when Manfred had saved him from the lava – didn't like seeing Sid in pain, and told the sabre to do something to help the sloth.

Diego decided to help.

As Sid passed him again, the sabre grabbed the sloth's tail and pulled him backwards into a pile of snow. Immediately, the flame was extinguished by the cold.

"Ahhhhh…" Sid sighed in relief. "Thank you!"

He reached out to touch Diego's shoulder. "From now on I'm gonna call you Diego…"

"Lord of Touch Me and You're Dead."

"Aaah!" Sid yelped, leaping up and racing away from the sabre. Diego jumped up and galloped after the fleeing sloth, letting out a playful roar as he did.

Even at a half-gallop, Diego caught up with Sid and pinned him to the ground.

Sid let out a frightened wail.

Then the sabre let out a laugh. "I'm just kidding, you little knucklehead!" He grabbed the sloth in a headlock, and gave him a very rough noogie on his skull.

"Ow!" Sid cried. "No! Not the noogie!"

Elizabeth laughed at the sloth's attempts to get free from Diego's headlock. The sloth was the most comic character of their strange group. But she liked him. She liked Manfred as well. She also liked Diego.

And then there was Jack Sparrow.

Right now he was dancing around the fire, rum bottle in hand, singing an old pirate shanty.

"_We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs!_

_Drink up, me 'earties yo ho!_

_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!"_

Jack grinned. "I love this song!" he declared loudly. "Really bad eggs!"

Suddenly, he stumbled, and dropped to the ground next to Elizabeth. Settling down next to her,

"When I get the _Pearl_ back," he said to her, his face and tone quite serious despite the bottle in his hand, "I'll teach that song to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time!"

Elizabeth laughed. Her disappointment at learning Jack's true story had faded with the day. _'Nothing is as it seems to be,'_ she had told herself.

"And then you will be positively the most fearsome pirates in the Northern Regions!" she teased the pirate.

Jack shook his head. His brown eyes were softer now, not confident and scheming like earlier in the day. "Not just the Northern Regions…the entire ocean! The entire world!"

He sat up more upright. "Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is. Not just a keel and planks and sails and masts…that's what a ship needs…but what a ship really is…what the _Black Pearl_ really is… is freedom."

His eyes had a faraway look in them as he said this. Elizabeth could tell that Jack really longed for his old command. She could see the pain in his eyes. And now...she felt sorry for him.

Slowly, she turned her eyes away from the pirate, who was taking another swig of rum, to look at Diego and Sid. The sabre seemed to have got bored of treating the sloth to the noogie, but Sid was still trapped in Diego's headlock.

"Hey," the sloth said. "Are you going to let me go, or do I have to bite your paw? My teeth are quite sharp, you know."

"If you bite me, I'll do this," the sabre said playfully, pulling Sid's head closer. He raised his paw, ready to give Sid another noogie, when…

"Hey, lovebirds," Manfred said proudly. "Check this out."

Everybody looked up. Sid slipped out of the sabre's headlock.

Diego's eyes widened in surprise.

For standing in the middle of the cave, unsupported…was Roshan.

Slowly, he lifted his left leg…and took a step forward.

Then another.

Then another.

"I don't believe it!" Sid exclaimed.

"Oh, wow," Elizabeth said softly,

Diego was genuinely touched by the baby's first steps. A small smile spread across his face.

Roshan continued to slowly toddle forwards, making his way steadily towards Sid.

The sloth spread his arms wide. "Come here, you little biped!" he cooed. "Come here, you little wormy-worm! Come to Uncle Sid!"

Roshan took a few more steps towards the sloth…but then he changed direction.

Towards Diego.

"No, no, no, no, this way, this way!" Sid called, but the baby did not turn back. He kept slowly toddling towards the sabre.

Diego looked surprised by the baby's change of direction. "No, no, no. Go to him. Go to him." He gestured back at Sid with his paw.

But the baby kept on walking towards the sabre, arms spread out for a hug.

Jack Sparrow smiled widely at the sight of the baby's first steps. He watched Roshan toddle towards Diego with impressed eyes.

Roshan had only a few more steps to go before he reached the big orange tiger in front of him. He liked the tiger. It was just like his dad's sabre-skin cloak, only even better, because it was alive. He could sense it was trying to get him back to his tribe.

Suddenly, he tripped over his feet. As he toppled over, he grabbed for the nearest thing to him – which happened to be the sabre's leg.

Diego glowed red from under his fur as the baby cuddled his leg.

"Uuuuhhh…okay…"

Roshan smiled up at the sabre, and cooed happily.

Still blushing, highly embarrassed, Diego helped the baby back up to his feet. "Good job," he said uncomfortably. "Keep…keep trying."

He gave Roshan a little push in the right direction, back towards Manfred.

"You're a real big softie, aren't you?" Elizabeth teased, as Roshan toddled back to the mammoth.

Diego grinned sheepishly in reply.

Roshan took a few more steps towards Manfred. Then, suddenly, he plonked back down onto his butt, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

The mammoth smiled down at the tired little baby. "Bedtime, lumpy," he said, picking up the baby with his trunk. "You've had a long day." _'And,'_ he thought_, 'you've got another long day to come.'_

Cradled in Manfred's warm, furry trunk, Roshan smiled contentedly. Slowly, his eyes closed as the baby fell fast asleep.

Jack Sparrow smiled, slowly resting his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

She quickly shook his hand off, but Jack didn't notice a bit. Instead, he slowly raised his bottle in a toast. "To freedom. To the _Black Pearl_."

Then he tipped his head back, and drained the entire bottle in one go.

As the pirate drank, he slowly settled back down to the ground. Finally, Jack Sparrow slumped onto the ground, fast asleep. As he started to snore, his bottle rolled out of his hand and clattered across the floor.

Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head in amusement. _'Crazy pirate. He'll pay for his drinking when he wakes up in the morning. With a hangover.'_

Slowly, she settled down onto her bed of moss and bracken by the fire. As she laid there, watching the flickering flames, an idea crept into her head.

Turning over, Elizabeth gazed at the pile of full rum bottles near the entrance of the cave. There were still over a dozen bottles in the pile, and she knew what Jack was planning to do with them.

'_Not anymore,'_ Elizabeth thought with a small smirk as she laid back down and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes she was fast asleep.

"Look at that big pushover," Sid smiled to Diego as they watched Manfred, now fast asleep, cradle the slumbering Roshan in his trunk. "You know, Diego, I've never had a friend who would risk their life for me."

Diego nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. Manny's…he's a good guy."

"Yeah." Sid yawned. "Well…goodnight."

The sloth settled down onto the cave floor, and within moments he was snoring loudly.

That left Diego as the last one awake in the alcove.

He had a lot to think about.

The mammoth had saved his life. Jack Sparrow, a supposedly selfish pirate, had saved Elizabeth. And now here he was, leading them all, plus a cute, innocent infant who saw Diego as an uncle, to their deaths.

'_This isn't right.'_

And this time, the side of him that wanted revenge for the loss of his pack-mates and friends didn't answer back.

But it wasn't only that which was troubling him. The young blacksmith, Will Turner, had been a very kind, quiet, but determined character, risking his life to save the woman he loved.

He also had the blood needed to undo the Aztec curse.

Suddenly, the clouds parted above the cloudy silhouette of Half Peak, and a glowing, blue, almost-full moon shone down on the landscape.

Diego poked his leg into a patch of moonlight, and watched as it transformed from a living, furry foot to bones wrapped in ragged flesh.

'_Being cursed is torture. If it is lifted, I have to eat…but I can't eat the mammoth. He's my friend.'_

Suddenly, a whole series of nasty scenarios played out in Diego's head. The baby screaming as Soto sliced open his skin…Manfred glaring at him, saying, "I thought you were my friend!" as each of the sabres attacked him in turn…and Will staring in horror as Elizabeth and Sid collapsed on the ground and were quickly devoured by Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke, while a knife slowly moved towards his neck…

Growling softly, Diego shook these images out of his head. He pulled his bone-leg out of the moonlight, and it morphed back into the tawny-furred leg he was familiar with.

The sabre laid his head down on his paws, and sighed. He would work out what to do tomorrow.

Slowly, his eyelids fluttered down…and everybody in the cave was asleep.


	21. Interlude 3

_As the other occupants of the cave slumbered peacefully, a small creature poked its head out from behind a large rock. _

_Scrat checked left and right, to see that nobody could see him. Then, quickly and quietly, he tiptoed across the cave floor to the fire, still crackling merrily and casting an orange glow on the walls of the cave. _

_The sabre-toothed squirrel produced something from behind his back. It was a small ice cube, stuck to a long stick. Frozen inside the cube of ice was a large acorn. _

_Scrat turned the frozen acorn towards the fire. He was going to melt the ice so he could get the acorn and bury it. His walnut-sized brain had spent hours figuring out how that idea would work._

_Slowly, the ice around the acorn started to melt. The end of the acorn was now exposed. _

_Scrat held the acorn closer to the fire. The ice melted some more. Now almost three quarters of the acorn were exposed. But Scrat wanted the whole acorn free of the ice, so he could bury it for the spring. He held the acorn even closer still. _

_Finally, the last bits of ice melted off the acorn. Scrat let out a cry of joy. _

POP!

_Suddenly, with a loud pop, the acorn became white and fluffy as it turned itself inside out._

_Scrat stared at the popped acorn for a moment, his eyes filled with shock and surprise. Then he groaned, and slumped to the ground. _

_Little did he know that he had just invented 'popcorn'._

* * *

**Please review if you like it! :-)**


	22. Chapter 18: Diego's Regret

Smoke.

He could smell smoke.

Why could he smell smoke? One moment he was drinking rum in the cave by the fire, the next minute he was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, and a tremendous headache throbbing in his brain.

Jack Sparrow slowly opened his eyes. Above him was the bright blue sky of a fine morning, tainted with black smoke billowing outside.

_Sniff sniff sniff_

The pirate smelt the air. The smoke had a funny scent mingled in it. A hint of rum.

Jack sat up and turned around to see a roaring wall of flame. Standing by the blazing bonfire were Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Elizabeth.

As he watched through fuzzy eyes, the lady picked up something from the floor of the cave and poured its contents onto the fire. The flames leaped even higher, licking the cave roof.

Jack squinted at Elizabeth as she picked up another object. Slowly it cleared into a bottle. And the amber-coloured liquid that was being poured onto the bonfire was…rum.

'_RUM?!'_

"STOP!" cried Jack, leaping up and rushing up to Elizabeth. But the damage was already done. All the bottles that the pirate had carefully prepared for drinking the next day were lying empty on the floor, their contents used as fuel for the fire.

"What have you done?!" Jack moaned. "Elizabeth, what have you done? You've burnt it all! You've burnt all the rum! Why is the rum gone?"

Elizabeth whipped around and glared at the pirate. "One, because it is a _vile_ drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, this smoke signal is over a thousand feet high!" She pointed up at the black smoke trail, slowly drifting into the fine blue sky. "The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me! Do you think there is even a _chance_ they will not notice that?"

"But _why _is the rum gone?" Jack wailed.

Elizabeth sighed, and sat down, looking out to where the river sparkled in the morning light. "Just wait, _Captain_ Jack Sparrow. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails coming around the bend."  
Jack's face was twitching madly. He looked like he was actually considering shooting Elizabeth right then and there.

Finally, however, he sighed sadly, and slumped to the ground, head in his hands.

* * *

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Elizabeth couldn't see Manfred, Sid, or Diego's faces, but somehow she knew exactly what they thinking: _awkward_.

Finally, Jack Sparrow lifted his head.

"Why the hell do you want Norrington to find us?" he asked.

"It should be obvious," Elizabeth replied. "He can help us find Will and vanquish the pirates."

Diego snorted. "Not likely. In case you haven't noticed, Will is a common blacksmith's apprentice, which can always be replaced. You, on the other hand, are the beautiful daughter of the governor."

"We're just locals," Manfred pointed out. "And Jack Sparrow is a pirate."

"Who will be dancing the Hangman's jig when I get back to Fort Charles," the pirate predicted gloomily.

Sid looked confused. "The Hangman's Jig? Why do they want you to dance?"

"I'll be dancing from the gallows," Jack said flatly. "With a rope around my neck."

"But you saved Elizabeth!" Sid protested. "Twice! Okay, sure, you had a gun to her head the first time, but still…"

As Sid babbled on and on, an idea emerged inside Jack Sparrow's clearing brain. When the sloth had mentioned about Jack having a gun to Elizabeth's head, he had remembered how he had used his tactical advantage to get his effects back. Aggressive negotiations, really. Now, he could use the same tactic…but he didn't even need to lay a finger on Elizabeth.

All it evolved was scribbling on the wall with Sid's chunk of chalk.

And that little scribble on the wall would lead to a distraction for the pirates.

'_And that will lead to me…getting the _Pearl_ back!'_

Jack's trademark grin spread across his face. Quickly, he got up and sauntered over to the rock wall, where Sid's half-scratched out sloth picture still remained. Lying on the ground was the piece of chalk.

Still grinning, oblivious to the confused looks he was getting from Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Elizabeth, the pirate captain got to work.

* * *

James Norrington stood on the quarterdeck of the vast HMS _Dauntless_, watching the trail of black smoke drift high into the morning sky. It had been only a few hours since the sharp-eyed lookout had spotted the smoke trail zig-zagging upwards from a point just inland from the river. As soon as he had heard of this, the commodore had ordered the giant man-o'-war turned around to investigate.

"After all, it could be my daughter!" Governor Swann had exclaimed. "If it is her, I wouldn't want her to wait out in the wilderness any longer!"

Now, the _Dauntless_ had almost reached the curve closest to the smoke trail. Norrington watched as the smoke trail came closer and closer…until the ship rounded the curve, and the smoke source came into full view of all those aboard the British Navy vessel.

The smoke came from a huge bonfire burning in the shelter of a small alcove. A pile of empty bottles sat next to the fire. They were obvious signs of temporary human occupation.

Someone had been there…but no longer was.

"She may be hiding!" Weatherby Swann protested. "From the wind! It is very cold, and the poor girl is only in her nightdress!"

Norrington nodded slowly. It was a good point, and there was a good chance that Elizabeth was still there. But there might be a pirate waiting in ambush as well.

There was also the possibility that Elizabeth wasn't there. But Governor Swann seemed confident that Elizabeth was there.

He couldn't ignore the orders of a governor.

"Prepare a landing party!" he shouted. "Lower the landing dinghy! I want five of our best marines to act as guards! By the double!"

* * *

Within a few minutes, the landing party had reached shore. Two of the five marines guarded the dinghy, beached on a shore of pebbles, while three marines accompanied the commodore and the governor up a narrow, rising pathway up to the ledge.

Just before they reached the ledge, Norrington turned to his men. "Charge your bayonets, men. If there is a pirate, and he does anything to threaten Elizabeth, fire at will. Governor Swann, I advise you stay at the rear."

Governor Swann was only too happy to. He quickly scuttled behind the three red-coated soldiers.

The commodore pulled out his own pistol, and leaped up onto the ledge. The marines quickly followed suit, with the governor tiptoeing behind them.

The place was deserted. Even though Norrington and the marines checked every nook and cranny, there was no sign of Elizabeth or any other human.

Weatherby Swann let out a sad sigh, and slumped down to the ground. Norrington sat down too, looking disappointed.

"Oh, Elizabeth," murmured the governor sadly.

Norrington nodded grimly. It was more than likely that Elizabeth was dead than alive. The pirates often killed their prisoners.

Suddenly, there was a cry from one of the marines. "Sirs! Sirs! I've found something!"

Governor Swann leaped up and rushed towards the sound of the voice, with Norrington dashing after him.

They arrived at a small stone wall just down from the ledge. The two other marines had also reached their comrade, and now they were all staring at the wall.

Big letters were scratched onto the hard rock face, standing out in white against the dark grey stone.

It read this: _I HAVE TAKEN ELIZABETH TO HALF PEAK. IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN, COME TO HALF PEAK AND WE WILL NEGOTIATE HER RELEASE. _

_CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW. _

Then in smaller font: _P.S. she accepts your proposal, Commodore. Thought you'd like to know that._

Norrington stared at the writing on the stone wall. _'Jack Sparrow. How typical of you. So you're the one behind all this.'_

"Well, at least she's alive," the governor pointed out.

"But now she's in the hands of a pirate," Norrington countered.

Nobody spoke for a few moments.

Then Governor Swann spoke up.

"I see she accepted your proposal," he said. "It's a strange time to say that, but she's a brave girl. Plucky, too."

Suddenly, Norrington remembered that he had proposed to Elizabeth. Through all the long trip north, he had almost forgotten about that.

Now, he realised that he truly loved this beautiful woman. And now that they were engaged, he would do anything to save her.

"Back to the _Dauntless_, men!" he cried, sprinting down the pathway back to his vessel. The marines followed quickly, running in perfect synchronisation, while Governor Swann brought up the rear, panting and puffing as he jogged along.

Within a few minutes, the _Dauntless _was heading back upriver, back north towards Glacier Pass. But instead of following the main river back to where the rest of the fleet and the native's canoes were anchored, the giant vessel headed up a small side-stream, up towards the fog-shrouded mass of Half Peak…

* * *

Elizabeth, however, wasn't actually captured by Jack Sparrow. She was merely travelling with him.

It was twilight now. The wind was picking up again, and eerie mist shrouded the rocky peaks and inlets of Half Peak, but the skies above remained clear. Elizabeth could see the full moon rising slowly above the horizon.

She didn't focus on the beauty of the moonrise, however. She was dwelling on the ruse that Jack had conjured up to get Norrington to come to Half Peak.

'_Why did he write that I accepted his proposal? I don't want to marry him. I don't love him. I love Will…'_

Suddenly, Jack Sparrow sauntered along beside her.

"Y'know," he said brightly, "for all that we pirates are clever sods, we really are unimaginative about naming things. Half Peak, split in half, and Shipwreck Cove, with the town of Shipwreck, in the tropical gulfs, with thousands of shipwrecks on its shores."

He chuckled softly. "I once knew a bloke who lost his eye, his leg, and both his arms. And what did I call him? Larry."

Elizabeth ignored him. But Jack didn't seem to expect her to answer. He just continued along the snowy track towards Half Peak, past Sid, who was trying to clean Roshan up.

* * *

"What's your daddy gonna say when he sees you all dirty and stinky like this?" Sid fussed, licking his claw and using it to rub off the dirt on the baby's face. "A little bit here…and there…all done!"

"You clean up nice, little fella!" Manfred smiled. He was in a good mood today.

"I think he's starting to look like me," Sid said proudly, examining Roshan. The baby cooed and tried to grab Sid's round nose.

Suddenly, Diego stopped. "Maybe we shouldn't do this," he said. "If he goes back to his people, he'll grow up to be a hunter. And _who _do you think he'll hunt?"

"He might remember us," Sid pointed out. "We saved him."

"Yeah!" snapped the sabre. "And then he'll grow a long neck and fur and call you _Mama_!"

Sid and Manfred looked curiously at Diego, amazed by his angry outburst. He was quite wound up today.

"What's your problem?" Manfred asked.

Diego sighed. "Nothing. It's just the cold. I'm freezing my tail off here."

Manfred shrugged, and he continued on his way, Sid, Jack Sparrow, and Elizabeth following him.

* * *

But Diego stayed stock still, his brain in turmoil. He couldn't do this. He couldn't kill two close friends, an innocent baby, a beautiful woman, and a quirky, but overall good pirate.

It was unfair.

"Hey, Diego?" Manfred called. "Are you frozen yet?"

The sabre didn't answer. How could they be so cheerful when they were walking into a trap – one that could not be undone?

But if he wanted to be uncursed…

'_Jack Sparrow wants to undo the curse. He wants to kill Barbossa, which can't be done until he's un-cursed. And Elizabeth wants to rescue Will and get him back to the British…alive. Perhaps it can be done.'_

He was committed. He had to do this.

'_No going back now,' _he thought.

Quickly, he galloped down the path to Manfred, Sid, Elizabeth, and Jack Sparrow.

"Get down!" he ordered.

"What?" Manfred asked.

"Get down, and follow me!" Diego repeated.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked in a worried voice.

The sabre sighed. "In the central caves of Half Peak there's an ambush waiting for you. An ambush of _sabres_," he added guiltily.

Sid still didn't get it. "What do you mean, _ambush_?"

"It means," Jack Sparrow explained, "that there are some bad guys waiting to attack us somewhere."

"Oh."

Manfred's brain, however, had already worked out what was going on.

"You set us up," he growled at Diego.

"It was my job," Diego said sadly. "I was going to get the baby, but then you guys came along and…"

"You brought us home for dinner!" the mammoth completed the sentence, glaring angrily at the sabre.

"That's it!" Sid shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Diego. "You're outta the herd!"

Diego looked apologetically up at them. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're _not_," Manfred snapped, rushing at the sabre and pinning him to the rock wall. "Not yet."

* * *

Elizabeth stared at the scene in front of her. It was shocking.

'_So he was a bad guy? One of Soto's sabre pack? I don't believe it.'_

She had not seen Diego before he joined the pack, but she knew that his behaviour was entirely different to Soto's on the _Black Pearl_. He was kinder. His smile was not an evil smirk, it was a small grin that showed a nervous, good-natured personality.

He had changed. Deep down, she knew it.

But now Diego was apparently getting choked by the mammoth's tusk that pinned his throat and body to the rock wall.

Elizabeth didn't want a friend to be killed in front of her eyes.  
"Stop it! Please!" she shrieked, rushing towards Manfred. "You're killing him!"

"Better him than us," Manfred growled, continuing to squeeze Diego's neck.

Before Elizabeth could explain that the sabre was innocent, Jack Sparrow stepped forward.

"You know, whatever you do to him, he's never going to die," he pointed out. "He's cursed, savvy?"

Manfred snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, _Captain_, I'm too old for fancy myths like that."

"Oh, it's not a myth," Jack smiled, watching as the moon slowly rose above the craggy peaks, illuminating the scene.

Straightaway, Diego transformed from his furry sabre self…to a terrifying skeleton, with various organs showing through his ribcage.

Manfred dropped the sabre, his eyes wide with horror.

Sid yelped, covering Roshan's eyes so the baby wouldn't see the horrifying sight.

Elizabeth gasped at the sight of the sudden transformation. Even though she had seen the same sight on the _Black Pearl_, it was still just as shocking as it had been then.

Only Jack Sparrow wasn't in any way surprised by Diego's appearance. His face wore a knowing grin.

The skeleton sabre, nursing his throat, slowly looked up at his horrified companions. "Listen, I can help you."

"Stay close, Sid," Manfred ordered the sloth. "We can fight our way out of this."

Sid nodded quickly, looking slightly green at the sight of the living skeleton at his feet.

"You can't!" Elizabeth shook her head. "The pack is too strong! And there are pirates with them!"

"And they're all cursed," Jack put in.

Diego nodded, his eyes full of regret. "You guys have to trust me."

"Trust you?!" Manfred exclaimed. "Why in the world should we trust you?"

The sabre looked the mammoth straight in the eye.

"Because I'm your only chance."

* * *

**The final climatic battle is about to begin! **

**Please review if you like it!**


	23. Chapter 19: Take A Walk

Will Turner was lead roughly through the rocky tunnels of Half Peak by a gang of angry pirates, escorted by the four sabres. Their green eyes glowed in the darkness, sending shivers down Will's spine.

Soon, the procession arrived in the main cave, filled with countless gold coins and glittering jewels. At any other time, the young blacksmith would've been entranced by the tons of treasure in that room, but with his life on the line, he had plenty of other things on his mind.

"No reason to fret," Pintel, one of Will's guards, said happily to the blacksmith. "Just a prick of the finger, an' a few drops of blood."

"There'll be no mistakes this time," snarled Soto at the stout pirate. "He's only half Turner. We'll spill it all."

Ragetti nodded thoughtfully. "Guess there is reason to fret, then," he said, and he burst into side-splitting laughter.

Will's stomach plummeted as he was lead to the stone chest. Unless a miracle happened, he was doomed to die. And he seemed to be out of miracles.

* * *

A few minutes later, the central chamber was filled with the flickering lights of torches and the excited shouts of the pirates and sabres as the moment of truth approached…this time for real.

Barbossa stood triumphantly on the hill of gold that supported the Aztec chest, his ritual knife in hand. Will was bent over the chest, held there by two very strong pirates. His face was pale with fear, and the last medallion hung from his neck. Everything seemed to be going to plan this time for the cursed crew of the _Black Pearl_.

"Begun by blood…" Barbossa began…

…when all of a sudden, there was a commotion at one of the chamber entrances.

"Excuse me, coming through…pardon me…beg your pardon..."

Will looked up in surprise as the chanting slowly faded away into silence. Moving through the crowd of pirates was a very familiar tricorn hat, on top of a very familiar face…

"Jack!" Will shouted.

Captain Jack Sparrow waved happily to him.

The movement attracted the attention of Captain Barbossa. He looked up…and his mouth dropped open at the sight of his former captain.

"Not possible," he muttered.

"Not _probable_," Jack corrected, continuing his way to the front of the crowd.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Will demanded, struggling against the grip of his two guards.

"She's fine," Jack said innocently.

"Where is she?" Will repeated, struggling even harder.

Jack didn't answer the question. "It's very unusual, isn't it?" he commented. "We set off to rescue her, and now I'm here to rescue you."

"Shaddup!" Barbossa snapped, waving his knife at Jack Sparrow. "You're next!"

The two pirates quickly bent Will over the chest again. Barbossa put his knife to the blacksmith's throat. _'Nothing will stop us this time. We're so close.'_

"You don't want to be doing _that_, mate," Jack said.

Barbossa looked up and gave him a wink. "No. I really think I do."

He turned back down to Will Turner, and put the knife back to his throat…

"Fine. Your funeral."

Barbossa sighed. Jack Sparrow had a way of grabbing anybody's attention with his stupid comments.

"_Why_ don't I want to be doing this?" the cursed captain snapped, looking up at his former captain.

Jack Sparrow looked up and smirked. "Well, because…"

Another pirate grabbed Jack's shoulder. He slapped the hand off, and sauntered up to Barbossa. "…because the HMS_ Dauntless_, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating offshore…just waiting for you."

Hector Barbossa's eyes widened. And slowly, a chorus of muttering built up inside the chamber.

* * *

Outside, in the dark, cold, and gloomy weather, a group of rowboats floated outside the entrance to the caves of Half Peak. Each one was loaded with dozens of red-coated marines. And far out in the bay floated the imposing _Dauntless _itself, only its silhouette showing through the mist and fog.

Commodore Norrington stood at the head of the lead boat, and sitting just behind him were Murtogg and Mullroy, the two clown-like marines from Fort Charles.

"What are we doing here?" Murtogg asked.

Mullroy sighed. His comrade had a very bad memory, for Commodore Norrington had explained the plan only a few minutes earlier. "Jack Sparrow comes out, unprepared and unawares, and we rescue Elizabeth, catch him in the crossfire and send him down to see Old Hob," he said slowly and carefully to Murtogg.

"I _know_ what we're doing here," Murtogg snapped.

"Then why did you ask?" questioned Mullroy.

"Because why aren't we doing what Jack Sparrow told us to do? You know, negotiating on the shore."

"Because it was Mr Sparrow's idea," growled Norrington. He was fed up with the constant bickering of Murtogg and Mullroy. He also knew that pirate had a bad reputation as liars.

'_If Jack Sparrow isn't going to keep his word…why should we?'_

* * *

Back inside the cavern, Jack Sparrow was negotiating with his nemesis, Hector Barbossa. He was pleased that his plan had worked so far, but there was still a long way to go. He needed to convince Barbossa to attack Norrington first.

Fortunately, he had all that planned out.

"Hear me out, mate," he said to his old first mate. "You order your men to row out to the _Dauntless_, they do what they do best…"

All the pirates in the chamber nodded and laughed eagerly.

"…Robert's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt," continued Jack, "and there you are with _two _ships. The makings of your own fleet."

Jack could see Barbossa's eyes begin to twinkle with the thought. He smiled. _'Everything's going to plan.'_

"Now, I'm sure you're going to take the grandest as your command, an' who's to argue," the pirate continued to speak, " but what of the _Pearl_? Give me the _Black Pearl_, name me its Captain, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as _Commodore_ Barbossa…savvy?"

Hector Barbossa nodded. The new rank had a certain ring to it. He smiled as the possibilities filled his head.

Then he turned back to Jack Sparrow. "An' I suppose in exchange you don't want me to kill the whelp?"

* * *

At the mention of 'the whelp', Will looked up. This was where he finally got mentioned. His fate hung in the balance of what Jack said.

"Nope," Jack said casually. "By all means, kill the whelp…"

Will gave the pirate a bitter glare, and struggled even harder against the grip of his two guards. _'I knew it! He's been plotting with Barbossa! He had no use for me at all!'_

"..but not just yet," Jack continued. "Wait to lift the curse at the opportune moment…for instance, when you've killed all of Norrington's men."

Jack picked up a few medallions from the chest. "Every…last…one." One by one, he dropped each medallion back into the chest…or so it seemed. Will caught a glimpse of a flash of gold disappearing up Jack Sparrow's sleeve.

Then he realised what Jack Sparrow had done.

"You've been planning this from the beginning," he exclaimed, straining against the grip of his guards and drawing Barbossa's attention away from Jack. "Ever since you learnt my name!"

"Yep," Jack said happily, giving Will a wink.

* * *

Ignoring the blacksmith's outburst, Barbossa turned back to Jack. "I want _fifty_ percent of yer plunder," he told Jack Sparrow.

"Fifteen!" Jack countered.

"Forty!"

"Twenty!"

"Thirty-five, an that's the least I'll be happy with!"

"Twenty-five!" Jack said with a smile. "And I'll buy you a hat!"

Barbossa stopped glaring, and cocked his head.

"A really big one, with _peacock_ feathers…_Commodore_." Jack held out his hand, waiting for Barbossa's response.

There was a pause.

Then Hector Barbossa smiled, and shook Jack Sparrow's outstretched hand. "We have an accord."

Jack Sparrow, filled with excitement, turned to the crowd of pirates gathered in the chamber. "To the boats!" he shouted.

Barbossa gave Jack a curious look.

Jack blushed slightly. "Apologies. You give the orders."

Hector Barbossa rolled his eyes, and looked back at the pirates who filled the cavern.

A grin spread across his face as he spoke. "Gents…take a walk."

The cursed crew burst into maniacal laughter as they trooped out of the cavern, unsheathing their cutlasses and loading their flintlock pistols as they went.

"Not to the boats, then?" Jack asked curiously.

Barbossa turned and smiled at his former captain. _'Now I have Jack Sparrow under my command. Soon I will have the beginnings of a fleet. And soon the curse will be undone.'_

His future had never looked so good.

* * *

As Pintel and Ragetti made their way to the exit of the treasure cave, grinning just like their crewmates, they were suddenly stopped by the Bo'sun. The muscly pirate shoved a parasol and two masses of clothing into their hands, and then walked away, laughing heartily.

Pintel shook out his tangled mess of cloth…and let out a groan.

For he was holding a woman's corset.

A _pink _one.

This was so humiliating.

* * *

Diego stalked through the familiar passages of Half Peak, his eyes scanning the rocks and snow for his former pack-mates. It felt very strange to be tricking the very mammals who had sent him to trick Manfred and Sid. But here he was, doing it.

Suddenly, he glimpsed a flash of orange fur in between stalagmites protruding up from the cave floor. _'There they are. Time to put our plan into action.'_

Quickly and quietly, he snuck up a narrow path back to meet his old pack.

Soto, Lenny, Oscar, and Zeke were lying on a ledge overlooking the treasure cave, watching the pirates troop out of the cave. Normally, they would have leaped at the chance to attack the British. However, they all had other things on their minds.

"Where can Diego be?" Lenny asked to nobody in particular.

"I'm sure he's lost the baby," Oscar said spitefully. "Again."

Soto remained silent, his evil green eyes still intently watching the snowy landscape. The other sabres fell silent as well, scanning the snow for a hint of tawny fur…

"Hello, ladies."

All the tigers whipped around to see Diego standing behind them, grinning at his pack-mates.

"Well, look who decided to show up," said Oscar coldly. He obviously wasn't happy that Diego had managed to succeed. He wanted desperately to be Soto's second-in-command.

"Diego!" Soto stood up and loped over to Diego. "I was beginning to worry about you."

"No need," the other sabre said. "In a few minutes, you'll be satisfying your taste…for revenge."

Soto's face split into a horrifying, pure evil grin.

* * *

Above Half Peak, the clouds parted, revealing a glowing full moon. It cast its eerie blue light across the entire landscape, across the navy rowboats floating in the ocean, and upon the _Dauntless_, floating in the cove.

The blue moonlight pierced the surface of the sea, illuminating a group of piranhas as they lazily drifted through the cold water. Suddenly, they scattered in all directions as shadows steadily marched across the seabed.

It was Barbossa's army of pirates, weapons in hand as they made their way across the seabed. As they passed through the moonlight, glimpses of tattered clothing and bone could be seen.

The pirates marched under the longboats waiting at the cave entrance, under the hull of the _Dauntless_, towards the many chains and ropes that held the giant ship to the sea floor. And as they emerged from the shadow of the hull, their bodies morphed into terrifying skeletons in tattered clothing, grinning evilly as they looked up at the unsuspecting vessel above them.

Slowly, they started to climb up the chains, up to the rippling surface of the water and to the deck of the _Dauntless_ above…

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the tunnels Half Peak, a small rowboat occupied with two figures in dresses and a parasol rowed out of the cave. On the navy longboats, the marines quickly cocked their rifles and aimed them at the small rowboat.

Commodore Norrington started at the sound. "Hold fire!" he cried. From their position, the two people in the boats looked like women. And he did not want to shoot two innocent women.

But it wasn't two women in the boat. It was Pintel and Ragetti…dressed in the ladies clothes they had been given by the Bo'sun. Ragetti, who was grinning excitedly from ear to ear, held a parasol while Pintel, looking rather angry, rowed the boat.

"This is just like what the Greeks done at Troy," Ragetti commented, "'cept they wore a horse n'stead of dresses. Wooden 'orse."

Pintel rowed his eyes in annoyance. _'Why do these things always happen to us?'_

* * *

While Pintel and Ragetti distracted Norrington and his men, the cursed army of pirates had reached the surface of the water. Swords clamped between teeth, the skeletons crept up the ropes and up the hull of the _Dauntless_, up to the unaware marines patrolling the deck above…

Meanwhile, up on the quarterdeck of the _Dauntless_, a group of officers were watching the little rowboat (occupied by Pintel and Ragetti) slowly splash towards them. Lieutenant Gillete, the officer who Norrington had left in charge in his absence, observed the strange sight through a telescope. But even he couldn't tell that the 'women' in the boat were actually men.

"Yoohoo!" called Ragetti in a lady-like fashion. "Yoohoo!"

"Shaddup!" hissed Pintel. "I already feel like an idiot."

"You look nice, though," the lanky pirate pointed out.

That was the final straw for Pintel.

"I LOOK NICE?!" he roared, turning around and shaking Ragetti by the shoulders as hard as he could.

In the struggle, Ragetti dropped the parasol. And as the rays of moonlight hit the two pirates, their skin disappeared, and they morphed into their cursed selves, their bones glowing blue in the moonlight.

Pintel stopped shaking Ragetti, and stared up at the _Dauntless_. Lieutenant Gillete had dropped his telescope, and was staring at the two skeletons in shock.

Growling, the cursed pirate pulled out his flintlock pistol and fired a shot at the officer. It missed Gillete…but it hit his hat. The navy hat flew through the air and out of sight.

"This is all _your _fault," Pintel snapped at Ragetti, picking up the oars and rowing hard towards the _Dauntless_.

* * *

Gillete felt the rush of air as the bullet tore through his hat, lifting it up and carrying it through the air. Quickly, he turned around to see the hat land next to the quarterdeck stairs…

…where an army of skeletons ascended towards them, holding already blood-stained cutlasses and daggers.

Lying across the main deck of the navy vessel were the bodies of the marines on guard. Their throats had been quietly slit by the stalking skeletons as they crept through the ship.

Gillete was shocked by this sight, but he had no time to reflect on this. The skeletons were almost upon him.

"To arms!" he shouted, pulling out his sword just in time to parry a swipe from the nearest cursed pirate. Dozens of sailors, marines, and officers followed suit, tussling with skeletons left, right, and centre. But whatever the valiant British soldiers did, they just could not defeat the cursed pirates. Red-coated marines and blue-clad sailors were falling dead everywhere.

* * *

In his cabin, Governor Swann was reading a novel when he heard the sounds of the fight outside.

'_What in the world is going on out there?'_ he thought, putting down his book and walking over to the carved-wood doors and stained-glass windows.

He opened a door and poked his head out…to see a deck swarming with hideous skeletons battling with marines and sailors.

One of the soldiers tripped over a rope lying on the deck of the _Dauntless_. One of the skeletons turned around to him, pulled out his sword, and…

Governor Swann couldn't bear to watch. He slammed the door shut and slid down to the floor, terrified by the awful sight outside.

* * *

Back in the main cave of Half Peak, Jack Sparrow sifted through piles of gold and silver, examining each piece he encountered, before tossing it over his shoulder.

A few pirates remained in the cavern. Barbossa sat next to the chest. A pirates who went by the name of Jacoby examined the shining pieces of treasure, while another named Clubba watched over Will. Twigg was skimming coins across the surface of the water which crisscrossed the cave floor.

"I must say, Jack," commented Barbossa, "I thought I had ye figured out. But it turns out you're a difficult man to predict."

"Me?" Jack said, tossing a gold figurehead over his shoulder and into the water. "I'm a dishonest man. And a dishonest man you can _always_ trust to be dishonest."

As he said this, he crept up closer and closer to Twigg, who was still skimming coins, one by one, across the surface of the water. But Barbossa didn't notice a thing.

"Honestly," Jack went on, "it's the _honest_ ones you want to look out for." He gave Will a hard look. "'Cause you never know when they might do something incredibly stupid."

Then he grinned, and gave Will a wink. And finally, Will understood the pirate's intentions.

"But sometimes, it turns out the honest ones are actually dishonest, and when they're doing stupid things, they're _actually_ doing things you can trust a dishonest man to do. Savvy?"

And then Jack Sparrow went into action.

In one swift movement, he pulled Twigg's sword from its sheath and kicked the pirate into the water. Then he tossed the sword to Will, who caught it in one of his hands and kicked

With a cry of rage, Barbossa leaped up from where he stood, and, racing towards Jack, pulled out his cutlass.

Just as the cursed captain was on top of him, Jack pulled out his sword and parried the blow.

The fight was on.

* * *

Jacoby rushed up at Will from behind, wildly swinging his sword in an attempt to disarm the young blacksmith. But Will changed his position just enough so that the sword swing merely cut through his bonds, releasing his hands.

Now with both his hands free for fighting, Will blocked a blow from the next pirate, twisting back and forth as he blocked strike after strike from his four attackers.

Will drove back Twigg with a strong kick to his stomach, sent Clubba tumbling down a bank of treasure into the water, and turned around to face Jacoby.

But instead of seeing the skin and flesh face and body of a normal man, there was a living skeleton, his bones glowing blue in the moonlight that shone through holes in the roof of the cave.

The cursed Jacoby let out an angry roar. But Will wasn't fazed. He quickly parried the cursed pirate's first attack.

_TING WHOOSH TING TING  
_Jacoby attacked again, and Will blocked it with his sword. But instead of counter-attacking with it, he delivered a strong uppercut to the pirate's jaw. The skeleton yelped in pain.

Meanwhile, not far away from Will, Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa fought fiercely. They leaped from bank to bank, wildly striking and parrying and swiping at each other.

_TING TING TING SWISH_

Suddenly, Jack leaped up, and with one clean swipe, cut the fancy ostrich feathers off Barbossa's hat.

With a growl like an angry dog, the cursed captain viciously swung his sword at Jack's neck, driving the pirate back again.

Then Barbossa stepped into a beam of moonlight…and he transformed into his skeleton self. He grabbed Jack's arms to keep him from escaping.

"You're off the edge of the map, mate!" Barbossa snarled. "Here there be _monsters_!"

Then he pushed Jack away, and the duel continued.


	24. Chapter 20: Battle in the Moonlight

Meanwhile, anchored out in the cove, the _Black Pearl_ sat silent and still in the water. No lights shone from her black hull, and no life could be seen on her decks. She appeared deserted.

But she was not. Below-decks, two pirates sat at a table loaded with delicious food, talking about what they were going to eat first when the curse was undone. The cursed monkey swung from rope to rope, cackling away to itself. And in the brig were Jack Sparrow's former crew.

* * *

Mr Gibbs grasped the iron bars of their cell, desperately trying one last time to open the locked door. But it was firmly shut tight.

"We have to get out of here!" Gibbs declared to the crew packed shoulder to shoulder in the cell.

"Well, how do you plan to do that?" Anamaria snapped. "We can't open the door. We can't fit through the gaps. We've tried everything, and it hasn't worked. The only way we could open the door is if we had the key, and we _don't_."

Suddenly, a small shiny object landed on the floor with a _cling_. Everybody looked down.

It was a key. As the monkey had scampered across the deck above, it had accidently displaced the key, and sent it tumbling through a gap in the planks down to the brig floor.

His heart thumping, Gibbs reached down and picked up the key. Rushing over to the door, he reached through the bars and inserted the key into the lock.

The key smoothly clicked into the lock.

Gibbs grinned back at Anamaria as he turned the key. "Now, what did you say about us not havin' the key?"

Anamaria smiled, slightly embarrassed, as Mr Gibbs pushed open the door. Silently, the crew tiptoed out of the brig and up the stairs to the main deck.

As soon as he was up on the deck, Mr Gibbs took a great deep breath of fresh evening air. _'I never noticed how bad it smelt back down there,'_ he thought to himself.

Suddenly, with a shriek, the monkey swung down in front of the crew...in its cursed form. Its miniature pirate clothes were tattered, and its bones could be clearly seen in the moonlight.

Gibbs let out a yell of fright. But Anamaria wasn't fazed. She stepped forward, and glared at the cursed monkey.

The creature recoiled, and looked up at her with big sad eyes.

A moment later, Anamaria picked up a long oar and batted the skeleton monkey clean across the deck and into the freezing ocean.

"They'll have heard that," Gibbs commented bluntly as the monkey hit the water with a _splash_.

Sure enough, two loud shouts and the sound of hurrying footsteps could be heard from below.

Mr Gibbs looked around desperately for a hiding place…and then he saw a rowboat hanging from its ropes over the centre of the deck.

* * *

Back inside Half Peak, the sabres were pacing back and forth on the ledge in the main cavern. Normally, their super-sharp senses would have picked up the sounds of the battle in the cave below, but their minds were elsewhere…dwelling on the thought of their first meal.

Suddenly, Zeke let out an excited cry. Soto whipped around at the sound.

"Look!" sniggered Zeke. "I see the sloth! And he's got the baby!"  
Soto grinned. Slowly, he and the other sabres padded around to where Zeke sat, peering over a rock ledge into the snowy landscape. There, ambling through the snow, was Sid. His dirty tan-coloured fur stood out against the pure white snow…and in his claws was Roshan.

Zeke growled, crouching down in preparation to spring out at Sid.

"Don't give away your positions just yet," Soto ordered. "Wait until you see the mammoth. He's the one we want to surprise."

But with fresh meat so close to him, Zeke found it hard to give away his position. Within seconds he was whimpering frantically, shaking all over with the effort not to leap out and attack the sloth.

Diego crept up behind the whining sabre. "You want to maul something, don't you, Zeke?"

"Yeah, I wanna maul!" whined Zeke, stuffing his paw into his mouth.

The other sabre grinned. "Then what are you waiting for?"

With a loud roar, Zeke leaped over the rock ledge and into the snow, racing towards Sid. Oscar and Lenny followed suit.

"NO! I said _wait for the MAMMOTH!_" Soto howled, but it was too late. Sid had spotted the three sabres galloping through the snow. Quickly, the sloth turned around and shuffled away in the opposite direction. But the sabres were gaining on him fast.

Suddenly, Sid leaped up into the air. His feet popped out of the snow…and so did two long wooden planks. The sloth was wearing skis!

Straightaway, Sid shot down a snowbank at lightening speed.

"Eat my powder!" he called back to the bewildered sabres as he zoomed down the hill.

Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke quickly gave chase, but the three sabres were quickly left far behind.

Sid whooped as he watched the sabres disappear behind him. But when he turned around again, he saw a huge boulder right in his path!

The sloth screamed. Frantically, he swerved to avoid the jagged rock. One of his skis flew off and landed in a snowdrift several metres away.

Sid wobbled about on his remaining ski, desperately trying to regain his balance. Then his foot managed to find the other ski, and Sid quickly regained his balance.

The sloth grinned as he raced faster than ever through the landscape. _'Whoo-hoo! This is even better than skiing!' _

"Slalom! Slalom, baby!" he screamed as he zigzagged between tall craggy rocks that stretched upwards towards the dark starry sky.

Behind him, he could only just make out the silhouettes of Oscar, Lenny, Zeke, and now Soto, who had joined the chase. But if he had been closer, he would have seen the sabres morph from fur and flesh to blue bone, and back to fur as they passed in and out of the moonlight from above.

But Sid could not see the cursed sabre's transformations. He was having the time of his life as he looped the loop and leaped into the air. Then he skidded around a corner and disappeared into a dark tunnel.

* * *

"He's gone into the tunnels!" Zeke groaned as he saw Sid disappear into the tunnel. "We'll never catch him now!"

But Soto grinned. "No…we will. He'll end up in the centre cave, whichever route he takes. We'll ambush him there."

Grinning, he raced up a bank and into another gaping cave. Lenny, Oscar, and Zeke followed their leader, with matching evil sneers on their faces.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the _Dauntless, _the fight was raging fiercer than ever. Skeleton pirates and Navy crewmen battled fiercely. But no matter how hard the redcoat marines fought, the immortal pirates always got the upper hand. The deck was now littered with dead sailors and marines, and most of those that were still alive were badly injured.

Down below, many other pirates were loading the cannons, ready to give a broadside to the unaware longboats with Commodore Norrington on board.

But a badly wounded sailor, stabbed in the chest by a skeleton and left for dead on the deck, was still just alive. And he noticed that he was lying right next to the giant warning bell.

With his remaining strength, he grabbed the rope and pulled it as hard as he could.

_CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG_

The deep ringing of the bell echoed across the cold water, all the way to Norrington and his men in the boats. At the sound of the bell, the commodore whipped around to look back at the _Dauntless_. Even in the fog, the flashes of gunfire could be seen.

"Back to the _Dauntless_, men!" Norrington bellowed. "It was a trick! Hurry!"

As quick as they could, the sailors pulled hard on the oars, and the rowboats headed back to the ship.

Then the warning bell, which had been tolling for nearly half a minute, suddenly stopped as the sailor who had been ringing it was stabbed in the back by a passing skeleton. And just a second later, the cannons belched out a volley of cannon-fire. Huge splashes showered the boats with water, but the lucky rowboats amazingly managed not to get hit by the huge cannonballs as they hurtled through the air.

* * *

Inside the captain's cabin, Governor Swann decided to try and take a look at what was going on outside. He lifted his head and peeped through the window.

But the fancy opaque glass clouded his view out onto the deck. All the governor could see were indistinct shadows moving about on the deck.

Suddenly, there was a scream from outside, and the face of a dead marine squished up against the window. Then the hideous face of a skeleton peered through the glass.

Governor Swann shrank away from the sight.

Suddenly, bony hands smashed through the glass, groping inside the cabin for the terrified governor.

Weatherby Swann screamed, desperately crawling backwards to avoid the skeleton arms attempting to pull him out of his safe sanctuary.

Just then, one of the groping hands grabbed his wig. The governor yelled, grabbing his object of status, and pulled as hard as he could.

But the skeleton outside was tugging at the wig just as hard. And it didn't seem to intend to give up its prize.

Governor Swann saw only one thing to do. Picking up a nearby candleholdier, he whacked the skeleton's arm as hard as he could. There was a cry of pain from outside as the wig fell down to the floor…with the skeleton's arm with it!

Curious, Swann picked up the dirty bones, and examined it.

Suddenly, the bones came to life! The hand twisted around and stretched out for the governor!

Terrified, Swann backed carefully over to a chest of drawers. He opened a drawer, shoved the squirming arm inside, and, slamming the drawer shut, leaned against it to keep it closed.. Within moments, however, the whole chest of drawers was shaking madly as the arm struggled to get out.

The petrified governor whimpered madly with fear.

* * *

Back inside Half Peak, Sid was snowboarding through the maze of tunnels crisscrossing through the ancient volcano. He did not care that he might be lost. The sloth was having the time of his life.

Far behind him, he could see the orange blur of one of the sabres still pursuing him. Laughing at how far behind the tiger was, Sid stuck out his tongue as he veered into another tunnel…which headed directly for the treasure cave.

Suddenly, as the sloth zoomed into the central cave, Soto leaped up in front of him, growling loudly.

Sid screamed, turning as fast as he could to avoid the sabre. But as he did, his board crashed straight into a low ridge of rock. The sloth was catapulted into the air. Somehow, he kept his grip on Roshan as he flew across the cavern.

Then, with a loud _crash_, Sid landed in a huge pile of golden coins.

The sabres were quick to pursue the sloth. Soto lead the way towards the sloth, still digging his way out of the mountain of coins in pursuit of Roshan, who was crawling over the pile of treasure.

Soto and his pack galloped through a beam of blue moonlight, and they morphed into their skeleton form.

At the sight of the terrifying skeletons hurtling towards him, Sid screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed Roshan scrambled away across the treasure pile, but he slipped on the loose coins. The sloth tumbled down the treasure pile and onto the hard rock below.

Soto, Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke leaped over the mound of coins, and rushed towards Sid, roaring angrily…

"SURPRISE!"

Suddenly, Manfred and Elizabeth emerged from around a mountain of treasure. The mammoth carried a huge log in his trunk. With one mighty blow, he batted the four angry sabres across the cavern and into the water.

Sid cheered loudly. And Diego leaped up onto a treasure pile beside Manfred.

"Good job, buddy," he congratulated the mammoth.

But the sabres were only down, not out. They emerged from the water, soaking wet and growling ominously…and as they approached through a beam of moonlight, they transformed into hideous, glowing skeletons.

Sid quickly hid behind a giant pile of treasure, his paw clamped over Roshan's mouth to muffle the baby's terrified screams.

* * *

"Come on, Diego," growled Soto. "Let's bring this mammoth down."

But instead of attacking Manfred, like he had expected, Diego growled and leaped _in front _of the mammoth, the sloth, and the baby.

"Leave them alone!" he ordered.

"_What?!_" Soto asked, shocked.

"Leave them alone!" repeated Diego.

Now Soto understood. His former first mate had betrayed him.

"Fine," he snarled. "I'll bring _you _down first."

Roaring, he leaped at Diego. But his former second-in-command had leaped as well. The two sabres met in midair, rolling down a pile of treasure to the hard rock below. They quickly leaped to their feet, and began to fight. The two sabres swiped at each other with their paws, roaring loudly as they tussled. Their bodies morphed into hideous skeletons and back again as they leaped in and out of the moonlight.

Meanwhile, Oscar and Lenny slowly stalked Manfred, forcing the woolly mammoth backwards. But he lashed out with his log again, forcing them backwards and allowing him to quickly rush away from the wall.

* * *

Zeke, on the other hand, stalked Elizabeth. Growling, he forced her backwards towards a treasure pile.

"You tricked us," he spat. "Now you're going to pay the price, _girly_."

As the sabre cackled crazily, Elizabeth felt her hand touch something long, thin, and round. It was a tall Aztec staff.

"Oh, really?" she said, cocking an eyebrow. Before Zeke could react, she whirled the staff, and the sabre crashed into a mound of treasure.

"Don't call me 'Girly'," Elizabeth grinned as she walked past him.

Zeke growled angrily at Elizabeth, Slowly getting to his feet, he crouched down and prepared to spring at her…

_THUMP!_

Suddenly, a large golden cup jammed itself onto his head. Zeke stumbled around wildly, his confused cries muffled through the metal that covered his head.

"Survival of the fittest? I don't think so!" he heard a spitty voice say from behind him. It was none other than Sid the sloth! He had snuck up behind the sabre and jammed the cup on his head.

Zeke growled as he heard the sloth laughing and walking away. Then he slipped over on the wet rock and tumbled into the water that filled the cavern.

* * *

Not far away, Jack Sparrow and Barbossa were duelling fiercely. Their swords were nothing but silver blurs as they swiped at each other.

_TING WHOOSH TING _

Suddenly, Barbossa kicked Jack hard in the stomach, and he collapsed on the ground, winded.

Then, to Jack's surprise…Barbossa tossed away his sword.

"You can't beat me, Jack," he declared.

In response, Jack picked himself up, grabbed his sword, and stabbed Barbossa through the chest.

But no blood stained the cursed pirate's shirt. Rolling his eyes, Barbossa pulled out the sword…and stabbed Jack Sparrow instead!

Jack stiffened. His face turned white, and he started to stumble backwards.

Hector Barbossa grinned. At last the man who had bothered him for so many years was gone.

Elizabeth gasped as he saw Jack stumble backwards, a sword impaled in his chest. _'No!'_

But as Jack stumbled backwards into a beam of moonlight, his skin and flesh dissolved, his cloths became rags…and he morphed into a living skeleton before everybody's eyes.

He was cursed.

Barbossa's eyes widened in shock.

The skeleton Jack straightened up, and examined his bony arms. "That's interesting," he murmured. "_Very_ interesting."

Will Turner kicked one of his attackers in the stomach, and whirled around to push him down into the water. But as he did, he saw Jack Sparrow in his skeleton form, glowing blue in the moonlight.

Will was not all too surprised to see that Jack had picked up the curse. After all, he had seen him slip the medallion up his sleeve. _'But whose side is he on?'_

Suddenly, to the horror of Barbossa, Jack produced something from his ragged sleeve. It was one of the Aztec medallions.

"I couldn't resist, mate," he said slyly, tossing the medallion in the air. "And the look's not so bad, really."

Barbossa snapped. Grabbing his sword, he lunged at the skeleton in front of him. But Jack twisted out of the way, pulling his own sword from his ribcage and parrying Barbossa's blow.

_TING TING TING_

The two cursed pirates leaped back and forth, viciously attacking each other with their swords. As they moved in and out of the moonlight, transforming into skeletons and then back to their normal selves.

* * *

While Will was distracted watching Jack and Barbossa fight, a pirate snuck up behind him. Quick as a flash, he knocked the sword out of Will's hand. The blacksmith leaped around, shocked, and was instantly forced backwards by the angry skeleton.

Will tripped over as he stumbled away from the cursed pirate. The grinning skeleton lifted up his sword.

"I'm going to teach you the meaning of _pain!_" he growled.

But before he could bring it down, somebody in a dress rammed the pirate with a long Aztec staff.

It was Elizabeth.

"You like pain?" she asked. "Try wearing a corset, then."

Will looked up at her with mesmerised eyes. Smiling, Elizabeth offered him the end of the staff. He took it, and quickly pulled himself up.

The two lovers looked deeply into each other's eyes for a moment.

But the romantic moment was broken quickly as the three pirates, back on their feet, rushed at Will and Elizabeth.

Before they could reach the two, however, Manfred stomped into view, batting them away with his log.

"Long time, no see!" he called to Will.

The blacksmith smiled to see his friend the mammoth again. But before Manfred could say anything else, the two sabres rushed up towards him, and he had to contend with them.

Will gave Elizabeth a determined look, and she read his mind. _'We'll give those sabres something else to think about.'_

Gripping her staff, Elizabeth whacked Lenny hard, and the sabre fell down on the ground. Then Will, who had recovered his sword, stabbed Oscar in the ribcage. The cursed skeleton sabre howled with pain.

Next, Clubba and Twigg rushed at them from behind. Will pulled his sword out of the skeleton Oscar (he yelped again) and chopped at the two pirates, barely blocking each blow. Aided by Elizabeth and Manfred, they started to drive the cursed sabres and pirates back.

* * *

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa continued to fight fiercely. Barbossa swiped fiercely at Jack, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat.

"Sorry!" Jack shouted as he knocked over a pile of treasure. The other pirate growled, chasing his opponent into a large empty area.

Quickly, Jack turned around and blocked Barbossa's swiping sword.

_TING WHOOSH CLANG TING_

Finally, Jack Sparrow shoved Barbossa back into a rock…and into the moonlight. The skeleton Barbossa, breathing heavily, leered up at his enemy.

"So, what now, Jack Sparrow?" he asked. "Are we to be two immortals destined to fight until Judgement Day and trumpets sound? Hmm?"

"Or," Jack said with a cocky grin, "you could just surrender. That would make things a lot easier, trust me."

Barbossa grunted. Jumping up, he chopped visciously at Jack, forcing him back into the blue beam of moonlight. _'There will be no surrendering from ME, Jack Sparrow. Not yet!'_

* * *

Back on the Black Pearl, the two pirates raced up onto the main deck and into the moonlight. Eagerly, the skeletons brandished their swords and looked around the deck…only to see nothing.

Confused, the cursed crewmates peered over the side of the ship. Suddenly, they heard the sound of creaking ropes. They turned just in time to see a huge black shadow swinging towards them…

WHAM!

And then they were tumbling overboard in a shower of bones.

Mr Gibbs and the crew let out a loud cheer, emerging from behind the still swinging rowboat.

"The ship is ours!" Anamaria cried, thrusting her fist into the air.

"Now," Marty said, rubbing his hands together. "Where shall we go first?"

"Wait!" Gibbs shouted, suddenly remembering something. "What about Jack? I mean, he's just in there." He pointed at the shadow of Half Peak

Everybody stared at him.

"What about him?" retorted Anamaria. "He owes us a ship. And we have one."

"And then there's the Code," pointed out Marty.

Gibbs sighed. "I guess you're right. The Code does forbid us from going after a lost crewmate."

Then he grinned. "But the Code never was that specific. Does it forbid us from going after a lost crewmate _after_ the action has died down? No! Does it forbid us from saving our own captain, who has always been good to us?"

The crew all shook their heads thoughtfully.

Gibbs continued. "Maybe Morgan and Bartholomew knew that there would be situations when the rules didn't apply! Maybe the rules are actually more like…guidelines."

"Aye!" chorused the crew.

"Then get to work, boys!" Gibbs ordered. "We've got a date to meet Jack at Glacier Pass, and we wouldn't like to miss it!"

In just a few seconds, the crew was racing around deck, tightening ropes, rigging up the sails, and preparing for their departure.

* * *

On the _Dauntless_, the fight was still raging fiercer than ever. The remaining marines and sailors clashed with the cursed pirates, and the deck was filled with the sound of clashing metal.

A marine who had rushed up from below decks pulled out his sword, ready to join the fight...but then he crumbled to the ground with a groan, as Pintel and Ragetti, still wearing their dresses, emerged from behind him. Pintel was clutching a smoking pistol.

Yelling, the two cursed skeletons rushed into the battle, pistols and swords raised above their heads. They sliced through the marines, firing their pistols at random, when something caught Ragetti's eye.

"Oi!" he said suddenly.

"What?" grunted Pintel.

"Is it supposed to be doin' that?" Ragetti asked, pointing out at something in the harbour.

Pintel looked to see a black shadow silently and swiftly sailing off out of the cove…the _Black Pearl_.

"They're stealing our ship!" Pintel cried in amazement.

Ragetti growled angrily, his remaining eye glaring out at the fast disappearing ship. "BLOODY PIRATES!"

Just then, dozens of marines started pouring over the side of the ship and into the battle. It was the commodore and his men from the longboats!

Norrington leaped over the railing of the ship, just as a skeleton pirate turned and rushed at him. The commodore pulled out his pistol and fired it at the skeleton. It hit him directly in the eye, but the hideous cursed pirate kept on coming.

And now skeletons from all over the deck were swarming over to attack the waves of incoming marines.

"COME ON!" howled Pintel, pulling out his sword and rushing with the others towards the marines.

Within moments, the battle was in full swing again. And, as before, the cursed pirates had the upper hand.

Suddenly, a lieutenant swung a large metal hook hanging from a mast at a particularly large, angry skeleton. It missed its intended target…but, instead, it clonked Ragetti on the back of the head. His wooden eye was knocked out of the head and started rolling around on the slippery, crowded deck.

"Me eye!" he shrieked, crawling along the deck, in between legs and around bodies as he chased his precious wooden sphere.

* * *

Murtogg and Mullroy, the last marines to exit the longboats poked their heads over the railing of the _Dauntless_. Their eyes widened at the sight of the hundreds of skeleton pirates fighting with outnumbered and weakened marines and sailors. People were falling dead every second.

Mullroy looked at his friend. "It's been nice knowing you," he said softly.

Murtogg nodded, and shook his comrade's hand.

Then, with a loud battle cry, the two bumbling marines leaped onto the deck and ran towards almost certain death.

* * *

Inside Half Peak, Manfred, Elizabeth and Will fought fiercely against the pirates and sabres, working as a team to drive off the skeletons. Elizabeth used her long staff, Will stabbed, chopped, and parried with his sword, and Manfred struck out with his trunk and tusks.

On the other side of the cave, Diego and Soto fought fiercely. They slashed at each other with their claws, and roughly shoved at each other. But no matter how hard they battled, the sabres could not even hurt one another.

Jack and Barbossa were locked in combat too. The sound of their clashing swords filled the air as they battled. They seemed totally oblivious to everything else as they fought, while they slowly moved closer to the two fighting sabres.

Jack sent Barbossa reeling with a kick. Then, suddenly, he was distracted by a roar from behind him. Looking around, the pirate saw a skeleton Soto pinning a skeleton Diego to the ground. The sabre leader was quickly overpowering his tired enemy.

Acting quickly, Jack slashed at Soto's spine. The sabre howled with pain, and hurled himself at his new attacker. Jack quickly parried and dodged Soto's blows.

Leaping to his feet, Diego jumped at Soto, fiercely slashing at the sabre.

Before Jack could attack Soto again, Barbossa came up behind him with a roar, and the pirate captain was forced to defend himself against his enemy, steadily moving backwards, away from Barbossa…and towards the Aztec chest in the centre of the cave.

* * *

Diego and Soto continued to fight, roaring loudly as they clashed with each other. But they had battled for many long minutes, and even the curse did not supply endless strength. Diego was slowly wearing out.

With a triumphant roar, Soto shoved Diego into a rock wall. Groaning, the sabre flopped down onto the ground, and lay there, winded.

Laughing, Soto paced over to where Oscar and Lenny had finally managed to drive Manfred away from Elizabeth and Will, who were both battling desperately against Clubba, Twigg, and Jacoby.

Manfred lashed out at the skeleton sabres, glowing in the moonlight, but they didn't even flinch. They were so close to getting their first meal in ages, and they weren't going to let this opportunity go.

Then Elizabeth rammed her staff through the ribcages of all three pirates. They were now all stuck together, and no matter how hard they pulled at the staff, they could not get it out!

Jack saw that now was the time to get the curse undone.

Swiftly slipping his medallion into his hand and slicing the skin with his sword, he tossed the blood-drenched gold to Will, before whipping around to parry a blow from Barbossa. Will and Elizabeth raced away from the three stuck pirates, towards the open Aztec chest in the centre of the room.

* * *

Soto, Oscar, and Lenny continued to force the frantic mammoth backwards. Suddenly, with a thump, his back collided with the wall of the cave.

He was trapped.

Grinning evilly, Soto leaped at Manfred.

But another ghostly-blue blur flew through the air towards the skeleton Soto.

It was Diego.

The two skeleton sabres came closer and closer to each other, as if in slow motion…

…and then Will, slicing his hand with the Aztec sacrifice knife, dropped the last two medallions into the chest.

In an instant, the moonlit three pirates transformed back to their human selves, and the skeleton sabres in the moonlight morphed back to bodies of fur…just as Soto and Diego reached each other.

Soto's sabre teeth pierced Diego's skin, slicing into his chest.

The sabre instantly fell to the ground, badly injured.

Just at that moment, Elizabeth and Sid, carrying Roshan, came around a pile of treasure into the open. At the sight of the severely wounded Diego, lying on the ground, Roshan let out a terrified wail before Sid could even think of covering the baby's mouth.

Soto looked up at the sound and grinned evilly. The curse must have been undone. Why else was Diego lying, bleeding, at his feet? Now he had the mammoth. And now he had the baby as well.

* * *

When he saw Diego slump to the ground, wounded, at his feet, horror filled Manfred's brain. _'He helped us. He was trying to defend me against Soto. And now…now…'_

Then the horror was replaced by fury.

With a huge roar, Manfred swiped at Soto with his trunk, sending him flying through the air and smashing into the rock wall, dazing the sabre.

The impact shook the whole cavern, loosening a large stalactite hanging directly above where Soto now lay. The huge heavy rock detached from the cave roof, and fell…directly onto the shocked sabre below.

In an instant, Soto was dead.

And at exactly the same moment, Jack pulled out his pistol and fired directly into Barbossa's heart.

The pirate captain gasped, confused at feeling true pain for the first time. In the fierceness of the fight, he had not even noticed that he was uncursed. Only now did he realise the curse had been undone.

And now he was no longer immortal.

Looking down, he saw a spot blood staining his immaculate jacket, slowly spreading across his chest. Everything was fading and swirling around him, and blackness was slowly gnawing at his consciousness.

"I feel…cold," he moaned.

And then Barbossa toppled over, and slumped, dead, onto a pile of treasure. His cold eyes and face still showed the expression of shock that had been the last feeling he had ever felt. And a green apple rolled out of his sleeve and fell to his side.

* * *

**The climax is over! And now you know how Diego ends up injured!**

**Only a few more chapters to go! Woohoo!**

**Please review if you like it! I would really like to know what you think!**


	25. Chapter 21: What You Do In A Herd

Out on the _Dauntless_, the fight was still raging hard. Norrington and a fierce-looking skeleton were locked in combat, as were many other pairs of marines and skeletons across the deck of the vessel. But at the very moment that Will dropped the last medallions into the Aztec chest, Norrington stabbed his attacker in the gut.

The pirate gasped, confused at feeling pain for the first time in ten years. And at the same moment, every single pirate stopped fighting.

They looked around in confusion. Why had this happened? Why were they now skin and flesh? The moon was still shining!

And then the truth hit them. The curse had been undone. They were now among the living again.

And they were also no longer immortal.

The pirate whom Norrington had stabbed let out a moan, and toppled over backwards to the ground. All across the deck, pirates started to drop dead from the injuries they had received in their cursed state.

Norrington quickly pointed his blood-coated sword at the next pirate in front of him. Spurred on by their leader's show of courage and the defeat of the pirates, the marines pointed their weapons at the groups of still-alive pirates.

The shaking man looked up at the commodore with fearful eyes…and dropped his weapon in defeat.

Every single pirate followed suit. Except Ragetti, who had been preoccupied by chasing his wooden eye. Grabbing his precious object, he stuffed it into his empty socket and stood up…only to see the barrel of a musket pointed directly at his face.

Ragetti jumped and moved slightly backwards from the gun.

Next to him stood Pintel, still in his frilly pink dress, his eyes crossed as he carefully watched the sword pointed at his nose. His face paled at the prospect of being killed.

He only knew one way to protect himself.

"P-p-parley?" he stuttered desperately.

"The ship is ours, gentlemen!" announced Norrington. And as he said this, the remaining marines thrust their weapons into the air and burst into triumphant cheers.

* * *

Inside the captain's cabin, Governor Swann noticed that the chest of drawers he was leaning against had finally stopped shaking. Cautiously, he opened the drawer which held the skeleton's arm, and peeped inside…

…and then the governor quickly slammed the drawer shut again, averting his eyes from the grisly sight within.

Suddenly, he heard cheering from the deck outside. Curious, Governor Swann moved towards the smashed windows and peered out onto the deck. All he could see was a crowd of triumphant red-coated marines surrounding scattered groups of dirty, defeated, non-skeleton pirates.

They had won!

A smile spread across the governor's face. Pushing open the door, he stepped out onto the deck and punched his fist into the air, joining in the triumphant celebrations.

* * *

Back inside Half Peak, however, the atmosphere was anything but triumphant for Manfred, Sid, Jack, Will, and Elizabeth. Sure, they had won. Barbossa, Soto, and the three other pirates now lay dead on the cave floor, while Lenny and Oscar had beaten a hasty retreat and Zeke's head was still stuck inside a large cup.

But for every victory, the victors must pay a price.

And they had paid it with one of their dear friends.

Diego was injured.

He lay on the ground where he had fallen, breathing shallowly. Every tiny movement he made seemed to torture him. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked up at them.

"We were…some team, huh?" Diego asked weakly.

"Were?" Manfred asked hopefully. "Come on, Diego, we still _are_."

Diego sighed, his head slumping down on the rock. "I'm…sorry…I set you up."

"Ah, you know me," Sid said sadly. "I'm too lazy to hold a grudge."

Roshan whimpered at the sight of his injured sabre friend. Slowly, Sid bent down and placed him on the floor. The baby toddled over to the sabre and gave his head a big hug, tears filling up his innocent brown eyes.

"Hey. Knock it off, Squirt," Diego said, managing a small smile. "You've got to be big and strong for your daddy. You've got to take care of these guys. Especially Sid."

Roshan refused to part from the sabre. He only clutched Diego tightly.

* * *

Will looked sadly down at his wounded sabre friend. "It's my fault," he mumbled. "I shouldn't have undone the curse so quickly."

"It's not your fault," Diego replied faintly. "You'd all be dead if you hadn't undone the curse right then."

Will nodded unhappily. Elizabeth sniffed and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Come on, Diego!" Sid pleaded, unwilling to believe that his friend was going to die. "You can lick this! You're a _sabre_! Come on, I'll carry you!"

Diego sighed, his head sinking back down onto the ground.

"Please, Diego! Come on! Manny, tell him he's going to be alright! Manny?"

But Manfred had already accepted the inevitable truth. Unless a miracle happened, Diego was doomed to die.

Everybody was silent for a few moments. Then it was broken by a small sad sigh.

A small sad sigh…that came from Captain Jack Sparrow.

Everybody looked at him in amazement. Pirates weren't supposed to mourn the dead, dying, or injured.

"It hurts to lose a friend," Jack muttered simply in response to their unspoken queries.

"Aren't pirates not supposed to have friends?" Diego asked.

Jack smiled sadly. "There's no rule about that."

Diego was silent. Everybody could see he was getting weaker by the second.

Finally, he looked up again, and a bold, commanding glow shone in his green eyes.

"You have to get to Glacier Pass. Leave me here. If the humans and the British get through, you'll never catch them."

"But why?" Manfred asked. "Why did you do that?"

Diego looked directly at Manfred, and smiled faintly.

"That's what you do in a herd."

Then his head settled back down onto the ground, and his eyelids fluttered closed.

Roshan whimpered, still hugging Diego's head tightly. But, slowly, gently, Manfred reached out with his trunk and pulled the baby back towards him.

Then the five friends and the baby stood at Diego's side for a few minutes, their heads bowed in mourning. Jack held his tricorn hat at his heart; a genuine sign of his grief.

Finally, they turned around and trudged out of the cave, into the snowy wasteland outside.

* * *

Outside, the moon was still shining brightly, and fog still swirled around over the cove. Manfred, Sid, Elizabeth, Will, and Jack slowly made their way along the snowy track that led away from the shadowy shape of Half Peak. Their hearts were heavy as they wandered away from their injured friend, who lay dead or dying inside the dark mountain.

Suddenly, Will and Elizabeth heard a small moan from behind them. Looking around, they saw Jack staring sadly out into the bay.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's…it's gone," muttered the pirate weakly, sinking down onto the snow below.

'_What's gone?' _Elizabeth wondered, looking out into the cove. All seemed to be normal. The _Dauntless_ was anchored in the shallows. Many rocky peaks still jutted out of the water. But in the space where Elizabeth had seen a mysterious silhouette as she journeyed into Half Peak…there was now nothing.

That silhouette had been the _Black Pearl_.

It was gone.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Elizabeth said softly, and she meant it.

"They've done what's right by them," Jack replied flatly. "Can't expect much more than that."

"Elizabeth!" Will exclaimed suddenly. Manfred and Sid had almost disappeared over the next hill. Soon they would be too far ahead to catch up.

Will quickly jogged after the mammoth and the sloth. But Elizabeth remained a little longer at Jack's side.

"Aren't you coming along?" she asked.

"You go on ahead," the pirate replied miserably. "I'll catch up."

Sighing, Elizabeth turned and followed Will. Within a few minutes, she had disappeared from view.

* * *

Jack Sparrow sighed sadly, still staring glumly at the place where the _Black Pearl_ should have been. _'So stupid. I'm so stupid. Of course they wouldn't be waiting for me. They're pirates, aren't they?'_

'_They shouldn't have escaped in the first place!'_

'_That's the problem. But the problem is not the problem.'_

Jack frowned, considering this.

'_The problem is your _attitude_ towards the problem, savvy? You can't do anything about the problem. Changing your attitude – now that's different.'_

Jack nodded slowly, the truth sinking in at last. The _Black Pearl_ would probably be at a port. If he could find a port, he could find his ship!

His signature grin spread across his face. Slowly, he started to get up…

_Click-click!_

Jack knew that sound. It was the sound of a cocking pistol. And he could tell by the sound that it was a British pistol. But who held it?

Slowly, the pirate turned around to see an angry-looking, blue coated man glaring at him, pointing a pistol directly at Jack's temple.

It was Commodore Norrington.

"How may I help you?" Jack asked innocently.

"We meet again…Jack Sparrow," snarled Norrington.

Jack sighed sadly. _'It's Captain. _Captain_ Jack Sparrow.'_

'_Why does nobody get that?'_

* * *

**Please review if you like it!**


	26. Chapter 22: Reunion

The sun rose over the bleak white landscape. In only a matter of weeks, snow and ice had blanketed the normally lush green land. Towering glaciers marched down from the eastern mountains and onto the snowy plains.

The entire animal population of the Northern land had moved south. Every human settlement was deserted. Not a creature moved across the icy wastelands.

But where the northern river passed under Glacier Pass, where two glaciers formed a huge natural archway, a fleet of huge British Navy vessels sat anchored in the shallows. And up on a snowy ridge above the river, in the shadow of the mighty glacier, a large group of humans were gathered.

They stood around a raised wooden platform with a trapdoor, upon which sat the ominous shape of a set of gallows. Standing over the trapdoor, a noose around his neck and his hands bound together, was none other than Captain Jack Sparrow.

He stared blankly down at the ground, completely ignoring the loud voice of the official announcer as he read out the pirate's crimes.

"Jack Sparrow, be it known that you have been prosecuted…"

"Captain," muttered Jack glumly. "_Captain_ Jack Sparrow."

"for your wilful commission of crimes against the crown," continued the official. "Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith: piracy, smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Royal Navy, impersonating a honourable judge, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England…"

"Ah, yes," Jack chuckled to himself, remembering that mishap. What fun it had been.  
"Shut up!" snarled the black-hooded executioner, glaring at the pirate.

Jack smiled innocently at him. "Bit cold, ain't it mate?"

The executioner growled like an angry dog. Jack stopped grinning and stared back down at the snowy ground.

"…sailing under false colours, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness," the official continued. "And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

* * *

Over at the edge of a crowd of sailors and soldiers stood Murtogg and Mullroy, one of several groups of marines assigned to hold the standards of the Royal Navy. They were very proud to have received this important task. Mullroy in particular had a very snooty look on his face.

Suddenly, there was a squawk from above, and white goo splattered down on Mullroy's pristine red winter coat.

Mullroy glanced down at the bird poo stain on his coat. Sighing, he glared up at the staff he held.

Perched on the crossbar was a handsome blue and yellow parrot. It cackled happily as it looked down at the two bumbling marines.

"Stupid bird," hissed Mullroy, shaking the staff angrily. The standard flapped madly as the staff wobbled back and forth. Screeching loudly, the parrot spread its wings and took off, swooping over the cliff edge and down towards the river below.

However, this event went completely unnoticed by everybody in the crowd. Their attention was focused on Jack Sparrow, as a drumroll began in the background…

* * *

Governor Swann and Commodore Norrington stood on a raised platform, with a clear view of the condemned pirate. Even though they hadn't rescued Elizabeth, both men seemed pleased that now, justice was being done.

"It's a pity that the villagers couldn't come to see this," Swann commented.

"But the sailors should enjoy it," Norrington replied.

"And the natives too," the governor continued. "They have never seen a hanging before. I'm sure they will be very interested."

Indeed, the tribe members were fascinated by the apparatus of the gallows. They watched eagerly as the noose was placed around Jack Sparrow's neck, grunting and muttering among each other.

* * *

However, one of the tribe stood apart from the crowd, facing towards the south. He crouched next to a small mound of snow, clutching a bracelet in his hand.

It was Runar.

The tribe chief stared sadly towards the south. In the distance, he could still see the smoke trail rising from the ruins of Fort Charles, the British village, and the abandoned camp.

Where he had lost his son and his wife.

Runar sighed sadly, looking down at the snow mound on the ground. It was exactly the same size as Roshan.

It would be a fitting place for the baby to be laid to rest, even though they may never retrieve his body.

Runar placed his son's bracelet on top of the pile. Bowing his head in mourning, he remained in front of the mound.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps.

Not human footsteps, no. They were heavy, shaking the ground with every step. It was just like the footsteps of…of a mammoth?

Runar looked up, and his eyes widened in shock.

Lumbering majestically towards him was Manfred. His brown eyes glared down at him as he slowly and steadily approached Runar.

Hiding behind Manfred's furry bulk was Sid. Whimpering frantically in fear, he tried to conceal himself behind the mammoth's leg.

But Runar did not notice the petrified sloth. His eyes were focused on the huge mammoth in front of him.

The tribe chief cursed himself for not bringing his spear. At least he would have had a chance for survival then.

* * *

But while Manfred confronted Runar, somebody was tiptoeing around him, hidden in the shadow of the glacier.

It was Will Turner.

He snuck towards the gallows, hiding behind large snowdrifts and tall ice formations. His footsteps muffled by the thick white powder, the ex-blacksmith went unnoticed by the crowd of marines and sailors watching as the executioner prepared to open the trapdoor and end Jack's life.

Will quickened his pace as the executioner moved towards a lever in the floor. _'We already lost Diego. I can't let another good friend die.'_

Breaking into a full sprint, Will raced into the open and into full view of the crowd of marines and sailors.

The crowd gasped at the sight of the intruder. But Will ignored the sound. His attention was fully focused on Jack, the executioner, and the gallows.

Pulling out a sword, he flung it towards the gallows…just as the executioner pulled the lever.

The trapdoor opened.

Jack plummeted down.

And then he stopped.

For Will's sword had embedded itself in the trapdoor, just where Jack could reach it. Balancing his feet on the sword, Jack half-dangled from the rope, his cheeks bulging as he tried to hold his breath for as long as he could.

* * *

Meanwhile, Manfred now stood right in front of Runar, who was completely unaware of the chaos behind him. He stood up on shaking legs, staring with wide, fearful eyes at the mammoth. There was something very familiar about it.

It was the mammoth whose family his tribe had killed all those years ago.

It wanted vengeance.

Part of him wanted to shout, to call for help. But another part of him remembered that all the greatest warriors in his tribe now long gone had been killed by the fiercest wild beasts. Sabre-tooth tigers, stampeding rhinos, long-necked Macrauchenia, and countless other animals had killed some of his best men.

To be killed by the woolly mammoth; the biggest thing in the northern plains, would be a fitting way for a chief to go out.

* * *

Will rushed up the stairs towards the executioner, grasping another sword in his hand. But the executioner was ready for him. Brandishing a huge axe, he lunged at the intruder.

_CLANG TING WHOOSH TING  
_Back and forth the two men duelled. Despite his large, muscular body, the executioner was quite nimble, easily matching Will move for move.

"_Hurry up," _Jack gagged, his face slowly turning blue as he twisted back and forth from the noose.

Down in the crowd, Norrington and the marines began to march towards the gallows, clutching their pistols, swords, and baronets.

"MOVE ASIDE!" bellowed the commodore, shoving aside sailors and marines alike. "MOVE!"

Suddenly, the executioner, with one strong blow, knocked Will's sword out of his hands.

With a cry of triumph, the executioner brought the axe towards Will's neck…

…but Will quickly ducked under the metal blade – which sliced through the knot in the rope just above Jack's head.

The noose unwound in a flash, and a gasping Captain Jack Sparrow dropped through the trapdoor to the ground.

Will grunted, tackling the surprised executioner. Caught off balance, the black-hooded human toppled over the edge of the platform…and right onto Norrington and his men below!

Underneath the gallows, Jack picked himself off the snowy ground. Seeing the sword still stuck in the trapdoor right in front of his nose, he used the sharp blade to cut the ropes that bound his hands, and, grabbing a handy coil of extra rope lying on the ground, rushed out from under the platform.

Above him, Will flipped over the railings of the platform and literally hit the ground running. Jack tossed one end to him, and they rushed away from the gallows.

A group of marines rushed at them, but, holding the rope taut between them, the pair quickly tripped them over. Then, dropping the rope, they used their fists to break through the next wave of red-coated soldiers.

Ducking, rolling, weaving through the incoming marines, Jack and Will fought their way away from the crowd, towards the snowy bank that led towards the empty plains of the north.

* * *

The group of native tribesmen watched the pair race away from the pursuing crowd of Norrington and his marines. Some of them grabbed their spears, obviously eager to join in the chase.

Suddenly, one of the men glanced over at Runar – to see a huge mammoth confronting their leader. The human let out a yell of alarm, quickly alerting the other tribesmen to the situation.

In a flash, they picked up their sharp iron spears and charged towards the mammoth like a herd of stampeding buffalo.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack and Will sprinted away from the crowd of pursuing marines, trying desperately to reach a safe distance before the marines caught up with them.

Suddenly, a squadron of red-coated soldiers charged towards them on their left. The two men quickly tried to run in the other direction – but as soon as they turned around, _another_ group of soldiers blocked their escape on that side!

They were trapped! Surrounding them on every side were over a hundred armed marines, and the only way of escape was a long drop down to the icy river below.

Commodore Norrington pushed through the crowd of soldiers and pointed his sword at Will – the very sword that Will had forged for him barely a week before.

"Well, well," he growled. "I thought we might have to endure some kind of pathetic, ill-conceived escape attempt, but not from _you_, Turner."

"You were one of our best blacksmiths," Governor Swann said, appearing from the mass of red-coated marines. "We supplied you with food and accommodation. And you thank us by throwing in your lot with a _pirate_?"

"And a good man," Will said firmly.

"That's me!" Jack smiled happily, pointing at himself.

"Hold your tongue, Sparrow," snapped the commodore, directing his sword at the pirate.

Jack, nervously eyeing the sharp metal blade merely centimetres from his face, obeyed. Things were not looking good for him anymore.

* * *

The situation was not looking good for Manfred and Sid either, as a crowd of angry, armed tribesmen stampeded towards them.

"Manny?" whimpered Sid. "They're getting closer, Manny!"

The mammoth, however, did not answer. He continued to stare down, emotionless, at the figure of Runar standing before him.

* * *

Back over at the cliff edge, Will continued to stand up to Norrington.

"My mind is made up," he said boldly. "If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience is clear."

Norrington sneered, pointing his sword back towards Will. "You forget your place, Turner."

"It's right here," the blacksmith answered simply. "Between you and Jack."

* * *

The tribesmen stormed ever closer and closer to Manfred and Sid. But the mammoth still did not move to defend himself or Sid from them.

"MANNY!" screamed Sid one more time.

And, finally, Manfred moved.

He reached up towards his shoulders with his trunk, as if to grab something hidden in his thick chocolate fur.

His movement must have also been a sign, for a cream-coloured flash instantly raced out from behind an ice formation and towards the crowd of marines.

It was Elizabeth. Her face was determined and her pace was fast as she pushed into the crowd of marines – towards her father, Norrington, Jack…and Will.

Then several things happened at once.

The tribesmen lifted up their spears, ready to attack – and kill – the mammoth which confronted their leader.

Sid screamed at the top of his lungs.

Elizabeth shoved her way through the last soldiers and sailors, past Norrington and the governor, and finally stopped in front of Jack and Will, shielding both from the many rifles trained at their heads.

And Manfred pulled a happy, smiling, healthy Roshan from his back.

* * *

Runar gasped, and his eyes grew wide. His son was alive! That meant the mammoth was not trying to kill him.

It was trying to help him.

Delight filled the void of sadness inside his body. His senses, once numbed by grief, began to return. He could truly smell the crisp cold air, feel the soft crunchy snow under his feet, hear the sound of…war cries and charging feet?

Runar whipped around to see his men stampeding towards the mammoth. He couldn't let them kill the creature that had just saved his child! Raising his hands, he signalled for them to stop.

The tribesmen instantly skidded to a halt just a few feet from Manfred's trunk.

Sid fainted and toppled to the snowy ground.

* * *

**Ta-da! Multiple rescues at once!**

**Only two more chapters after this and then this fanfic will be finished! :D**

**Please review if you like it!**


	27. Chapter 23: Back in Business

Commodore Norrington and Governor Swann stared at Elizabeth, frozen in surprise by her sudden appearance. Neither man uttered a single word, too shocked to even speak.

Finally, the governor broke the nervous silence.

"E-Elizabeth?" he stuttered.

Elizabeth nodded curtly.

"Lower your weapons," Swann ordered. If his daughter – whom he had thought dead for many days now – chose to stand beside even two convicted criminals, he would not risk losing her for good.

None of the marines lowered their rifles.

"For goodness sake!" snapped the governor, losing his temper. "Lower them! That's an order!"

And, finally, the wary marines slowly lowered their guns.

Jack Sparrow breathed a very loud sigh of relief that even Manfred, quite far away from the scene, could not help hearing.

Governor Swann sighed as well, although much softer and more dignified than the pirate's. After all, he was a governor, and a governor always had to be proper and polite.

But Norrington was in a state of shock. _'Elizabeth chose to stand beside Turner. She didn't choose to stand beside me._

_She doesn't truly love me.'_

"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" he asked softly.

Elizabeth nodded, looking rather regretful. "It is."

Norrington didn't reply. He felt like he'd just been punched in the gut.

* * *

Manfred placed Roshan down on the ground in front of Runar. The beaming chief crouched down and beckoned for his young son to come over to him.

And Roshan slowly, but steadily, toddled towards his father.

As soon as he could reach him, Runar picked up his son and held him tight, tears of joy rolling down his cheeks.

Manfred smiled at the touching scene in front of him. They had returned the baby. Their mission was complete.

* * *

Sid stirred, slowly lifting his spinning head off the snowy ground. _'What just happened? Are we dead? I don't feel dead.'_

The sloth slowly opened his eyes. The world was spinning around him. Everything was blurred and doubled. But, slowly, the blurs materialised into a dozen tribesmen standing around…Runar tightly hugging Roshan.

Sid beamed at the sight, a lump forming in his throat. Father and son were finally together again.

* * *

Jack Sparrow watched the two reunions with a small smile on his face. Even a pirate couldn't help but be touched by the happy scenes.

Suddenly, he heard a faraway squawk. A very familiar squawk.

Jack whipped around, his quick brown eyes scanning the bleak landscape. And, faraway, flapping down towards the river, was a bright blue-and-yellow parrot…

"Well," Jack said happily, pushing through Will and Elizabeth, "I'm actually feeling pretty good about this! I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh?" He pushed his face right up close to Swann's, and the governor gagged on the pirate's stinky breath. "Spiritually, ecumenically…grammatically!"  
Next, he moved over to Norrington. "I just want you to know," Jack said, putting his face right up to the commodore's, "that I was rooting for you, mate. Know that."

Then Jack sauntered back towards Will and Elizabeth, the crowd of wary marines watching his every move.

The pirate looked at Elizabeth with a pitiful, apologetic expression. "Elizabeth," he said sadly, "it would have never worked out between us. I'm sorry, luv."

It was all Elizabeth could do to keep herself from laughing. 'What does he think happened between us?'

Will gave her a curious look, obviously wanting to know what exactly Jack was talking about. Although it was something that nobody but the pirate himself would ever understand.

Elizabeth gave her lover a shrug and an innocent look that plainly said she had no clue what Jack was talking about either.

And Will nodded, grinning an amused grin. He understood.

'_Thank goodness.'_

Then Jack turned to the blacksmith, with a serious look. "Will…I honestly think you should get yourself a hat. A big one." He winked. "You'd look good in it, mate."

Will nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Don't worry. I will."

* * *

Smiling, Jack Sparrow sauntered through the crowd of red-coats, who instantly moved to surround him, their guns trained once more at his head. The calm pirate ignored them completely and turned to Runar. "Try not to lose him again, mate," he commented, pointing casually at Roshan.

Runar stared blankly at Jack, while his son giggled happily. What was this strange man doing? It didn't help that he couldn't understand a word of English. Most of the time, the British communicated to him with drawings and gestures.

Next, Jack moved over to Manfred and Sid, the creatures who had become more than mere companions to him over the last week or so. They had become his friends.

"I think you've reached a crossroads in your life," Jack said to the sloth. "What says you, eh? You can settle down somewhere nice. Find yourself a girl. Or you can go off …and have yourself another adventure. Savvy?"

Sid nodded, grinning. "Yeah, you'll never tame this beast! 'Adventure' is my middle name, baby!"

"Which is rather odd," Jack interrupted, smirking, "'cause animals don't usually have middle names. Or last names, for that matter."

While Sid digested this information, the pirate quickly turned to Manfred. The mammoth watched the pirate expectantly, waiting for him to speak.

"Manny…" Jack began, looking him up and down.

"Yes?"

"Lose some weight."

Then he turned and scuttled away.

Manfred sighed, slapping his forehead with his trunk. "I am _not_ fat!" he shouted at Jack's retreating form. "I'm _poofy_! Why does nobody get that?"

* * *

As he neared the crowd of armed marines, Jack Sparrow broke into his famous arm-flapping run, rushing away from the soldiers towards the edge of the cliff.

Finally, he reached his destination. As Norrington and the red-coats rushed up behind him, the pirate turned and spread his arms wide.

"Friends!" he announced grandly. "You shall always remember this day as the day you almost, almost…"

The rest of the sentence was left hanging in the air as Jack tripped over the edge of the cliff…and fell.

Will, Elizabeth, Governor Swann, Norrington and the marines rushed up to look. Down below, there was a distant splash and a spray of white water as Jack hit the icy river below.

"Idiot!" snorted one of the marines. "He's nowhere else to go but the noose again!"

Manfred and Sid shared concerned looks. Was Jack about to be sent back to the gallows?

What was going to happen to them if they couldn't escape?

Suddenly, there was a cry of "Sail ho!" from one of the sailors. Everybody quickly looked up to see something huge and black coming round a bend in the river.

* * *

Jack Sparrow burst out of the freezing water, gasping for air. The icy cold bit into him like a thousand daggers, forcing the air out of his lungs. _'Bugger. Not where I wanted to be.'_

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something familiar out of the corner of his eye. _'Is it…could it be…?'_

He turned around to look.

And there, sailing smoothly towards him, was the _Black Pearl_.

Her tattered sails had been quickly repaired and her once-dirty hull was now smooth and shiny. The skull-and-cross-swords Jolly Roger fluttered at the top of her mainmast. She might have been brand new.

To Jack's eyes, she was the most beautiful ship ever to sail the seven seas. Grinning, he lifted his arms and steadily swam towards his command.

* * *

"What's your plan of action?" a young lieutenant asked Norrington. Surely the commodore would want to stop the pirate before he could get away!

But Norrington seemed to be frozen in surprise. He stared, mouth gaping, at the _Black Pearl_ as it steadily sailed towards the tiny dot in the river that was Jack Sparrow.

"Sir?" demanded the lieutenant. "Orders, sir?"

The commodore, however, remained silent.

"Perhaps," Governor Swann said with a small smile, "on the rare occasion when pursuing the right course demands an act of piracy, piracy itself _can_ be the right course?"

Norrington considered this for a second. It did make sense in a way, not that he wanted to admit it.

Then he realised that he had unfinished business with somebody who had committed an act of piracy. Namely Will Turner.

"Mr Turner!" the commodore barked, twisting around and marching over to Will.

'_Uh oh,'_ the blacksmith thought as rifles turned in his direction. _'This can't be good.'_

"I will take complete responsibility for my actions," he hurriedly whispered to Elizabeth, clutching her hands, "and accept all the consequences involved."

Then he turned and stood before the commodore. With a flash, Norrington drew his long sharp sword and held it at Will's neck…the neck of the very man who had forged it in the now-destroyed blacksmith's shop at Fort Charles.

"This is a beautiful sword," he said calmly, and, for a second, Will actually thought that Norrington was going to cut off his head with it.

He was wrong. With a nod, the commodore re-sheathed his sword. "I would expect the man who made it to show the same care and devotion in _every_ aspect of his life."

Will's heart leaped into his throat. The commodore was _allowing_ him to love Elizabeth. He would be free to marry the woman of his dreams. But he didn't let his feelings escape through his expression. Outwardly, he remained neutral.

"Thank you," he said calmly and politely, the way one always should when speaking to a commodore.

With another curt nod, Norrington turned smartly and marched away with his marines. The eager lieutenant hurried after him, a concerned look on his face. "Sir, what about Sparrow?"

"Well," the commodore said with a small grin, "I think we can afford to give him _one_ day's head start, can't we?

The confused officer gaped at Norrington, who smartly turned and marched away with the large group of sailors and soldiers. Still in shock, the lieutenant had to rush to catch up.

* * *

As Governor Swann turned to leave with the commodore and his men, he happened to glance over at Runar cuddling Roshan. He had not noticed that the lost baby had been returned to his father before.

Smiling, he approached Manfred and Sid. "You brought him back? You helped bring back my daughter?"

The mammoth nodded politely. "Yes."

"Uh-huh," Sid confirmed, grinning hopefully.

Swann nodded. "Well, on behalf of this British Colony and the native people of this land, I thank you for your kind deeds. Your bravery and kindness will be rewarded."

Manfred shook his head. "You don't need to do anything for us, Governor. We were just helping out."

The governor smiled again. "Very well, but we are in your debt."

Then he turned to leave with the rest of the British Group. Elizabeth and Will followed, walking arm in arm. Elizabeth waved as they passed the two mammals. Then they were gone over the crest, heading down the northern slope towards the many navy vessels anchored in the shallows.

* * *

Runar and his tribesmen prepared to leave as well. They needed to get to their northern camp before darkness fell.

Manfred and Sid also turned to leave. Their job was done and they needed to head south to the warmer lands down there.

But as they turned, the mammals heard a whimper from Roshan. The baby didn't want his friends to go just yet. He needed to say goodbye to them.

Runar turned around and put his son gently down on the snowy ground. Roshan happily waddled back up to Manfred, and the mammoth scooped him up with his trunk.

"Don't forget about us," Sid said sadly, his voice choked up with emotion.

"We won't forget about you," Manfred promised.

Roshan smiled, lifting up his hands for a hug. And the mammoth held the baby close, with the baby cuddling his warm, furry trunk.

Finally, Manfred handed the baby back to his father. Runar's grateful eyes met the mammoth's for a moment. Then the tribe leader bent down to pick something off the snow.

It was Roshan's bracelet.

Smiling, Runar draped the bracelet over one of Manfred's trunks. The mammoth smiled gratefully at the human. This was a present he would treasure for the rest of his life.

Then, Runar turned around to head north with the rest of his tribe.

* * *

"Bye," sniffed Sid, tears rolling down his face as he waved to the retreating form of Roshan, watching over his father's back at his animal friends. "Goodbye! Goodbye…"

Suddenly, the baby saw something coming up the hill. His eyes refocused on the distant orange thing limping up the hill. Even from far away, he knew who it was.

Smiling, the baby covered his brown eyes with his hands, and then uncovered them again. He was playing peekaboo.

"Oh, that's right!" Sid cried, not noticing the baby's shift in focus. Quickly, he tried to look happy and joined in the game. "Where's the baby? Ooh, there he is!"

"Come on, Sid," Manfred said sadly. "Let's head south." Sure, he would miss the baby, but they couldn't waste time standing here. They had to catch up with the migration.

The mammoth slowly turned around for the long journey south…and then he froze, his eyes wide in amazement.

For there, limping up the hill towards them was…

Diego.

He had survived. His chest was scarred and he trod lightly on his injured foot, but he was unbeaten.

As he reached the top of the ridge, he caught sight of Roshan slowly moving down the hill. Smiling, the sabre covered his eyes with his paw, and then uncovered them. The baby smiled and waved happily at the sabre before he finally vanished over the hill.

* * *

"Bye," Sid sobbed one last time, his tears now starting to flow in earnest.

"Save your breath, Sid," said a voice from behind him. "You know those guys can't talk, right?"

"Yeah," the sloth said sadly, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Then something clicked in his head. _'I know that voice! Is it really…can it actually be…?'_

"Diego?"

Sid whipped around, and his face brightened immediately at the sight of his sabre friend standing, alive and well, in front of him.

"DIEGO! Oh, you're okay! You're okay!"

"Nine lives, baby!" Diego grinned, lifting up his uninjured paw for a high-five.

What came instead wasn't at all what he had expected.

Sid came at him with a flying rugby tackle, knocking the sabre over and sending them rolling through the snow.

"I could kiss you!" the sloth cried, hugging Diego so tight the sabre couldn't breathe and kissing the sabre all over his head. _"Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!"_

Suddenly, Sid tasted something funny in his mouth. _'Is that…fur?'_

"EWW! Yuck!" he yelped, spitting out the orange sabre fur that had accumulated in his mouth. "Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck…"

"Welcome back, partner," Manfred said happily as Sid plucked hairs off his tongue. "You want a lift?"

Diego laughed, holding up a paw. "No, thanks. I've still got my dignity!"

"You're hanging out with _us_, buddy!" Sid grinned. "Dignity's got nothing to do with it. But I'll take that lift, Manny!"

"You know," Manfred said, glancing down at the _Black Pearl _as it slowly made its way down the river, "I think we might be able to hitch a lift with those guys. It's a long way south. I'm sure they won't mind."

* * *

Jack Sparrow, shivering and soaked to the skin, climbed the final rungs of a rope ladder and stepped onto the deck of the _Black Pearl. _

Mr Gibbs stood in front of his captain, a wide grin on his weather-beaten face. "Welcome back, Captain."

"I thought you were supposed to keep to the Code," Jack said accusingly. "You weren't supposed to come after me!"

"Aye," Gibbs nodded, giving Jack a sly wink. "But we figured the Code is more like…guidelines."

Jack nodded approvingly, shaking his first mate's hand.

Then Anamaria stepped forward, draping warm, dry coat over Jack's shoulders. "_Captain_ Sparrow," she said with a smirk. "The _Black Pearl_ is yours. Yours to sail wherever you want."

The pirate sighed happily. He had his old command back. He could do whatever he wanted with it. Would he follow the river to the sea in search of Spanish Gold? Or would he sail down the coast to the Tropics on the hunt for precious diamonds and jewels.

Suddenly, his eyes fell upon three figures making their way down the hill towards the shore. The figures of a mammoth, a sloth, and a sabre.

Jack grinned. "Well, what if we go pick up those hitchhikers over there before we do anything else, savvy?"

Instantly the crew sprang into action. Cotton took the wheel, turning the ship over hard to starboard. Pirates scrambled up the masts and loosened the giant sails to slow down the _Black Pearl_. And other crewmembers prepared a gangplank for their new passengers to board.

* * *

While the _Black Pearl_ headed south, the British fleet and native tribesmen began the last leg of their journey north. A flotilla of swift brigantines, lumbering men-o'-war, and tiny canoes started up river, towards the safety of a settlement nestled in the corner of a large lake.

The fleet would only spend the night there, before beginning their pursuit of Jack Sparrow the next morning. But the tribe would camp there for the rest of the winter, living off the fish from the lake until warmer weather arrived and the animals returned.

Sailing at the rear of the convoy was the HMS _Dauntless_. Scores of sailors bustled all over the ship, cleaning the decks, scaling the rigging, or rolling barrels of supplies down into the cargo hold. Everybody was busy with a task.

Save for two people standing together on the rear balcony.

They were none other than Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann.

Elizabeth rested her head on Will's shoulder as the lovers watched the landscape lazily drift past. Everything was peaceful and calm. Her adventure was over, and things were finally returning to normal.

But she'd come out of her experience with a new opinion on pirates. Sure, they were savage, pugnacious brutes, but they were still human. And deep down, under all that drunkenness and toughness, they still had feelings.

Maybe they weren't as bad as she had thought.

_'Well…maybe only _some_ of them.'_

Suddenly, Elizabeth heard the balcony door open. She and Will quickly looked around to see Governor Swann stepping out onto the deck.

As soon as he saw the pair together, he smiled knowingly. "Ah. Excuse me for my interruption." Quickly, the governor stepped back into the captain's cabin.

But just before he closed the door, he looked seriously at his daughter. "So this is the path you've chosen? After all, he _is_ a blacksmith."

Elizabeth shook her head and smiled, putting her arms around Will's neck.

"He's a pirate."

And, under a clear blue sky and blazing sun, as time crawled to a blissful standstill, Elizabeth and Will's lips met, and their worlds melted together into a sweet, lingering kiss.

* * *

The _Black Pearl_ was sitting alongside the bank by the time Manfred, Sid, and Diego reached the bottom of the ridge pathway. The mammoth made his way across the gangplank and stopped in front of Jack Sparrow.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain?" he requested.

"Granted!" Jack grinned. "Welcome aboard the _Black Pearl_!"

Smiling, Manfred stepped onto the wooden deck of the ship, his eyes taking in the spider's web of rigging and the gigantic sails above him. Sid and Diego looked up in awe as well, their eyes wide in amazement.

"So," Manfred said casually, "how long is it gonna take to get us south?"

"Oh, 'bout a week," Jack grinned. "Give or take a few days. We'll be in warmer lands before you know it."

Then the captain sauntered up the stairs to the helm, leaving Manfred, Sid, and Diego standing together as the _Black Pearl_ set off down the river.

"This is going to be the best migration _ever_!" Sid said happily. "I'll show you all my favourite watering holes! When the fungus in my fur dries I turn brown!"

"That sounds…attractive…" Diego grimaced.

"Hey, you know this Ice Age thing is getting a bit old now," the sloth pointed out.

"We've only had winter for a few days!" Manfred exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I don't like the cold. You know what I could do with? Global warming!"

"Dream on, Sid."

"No, seriously, guys, I could!"

* * *

Jack Sparrow took the wheel from Cotton and pulled his magical compass out of his pocket. He was back where he belonged, at the helm of his command. A quirky smile crept across his face.

"Now, bring me that horizon," he whispered. "Send me on my way."

As if responding to his wish, the wind suddenly picked up, filling the sails of the _Black Pearl_. It shot off down the river, sailing swiftly through the icy water.

And as it travelled downriver, Jack found himself humming a very old pirate shanty. He smiled, watching as the needle of his compass swayed back and forth.

"_We're devils, we're black sheep, we're really bad eggs…"_

Finally, the needle settled on a point just behind him. Jack stared at it, confused. _'What do I want that's behind me?'_

He looked about…and his eyes fell on a large bottle sitting on a stool on the deck, full to the brim of an amber liquid…rum.

'_Aha!'_

Jack picked up the bottle and uncorked it. Grinning, he turned the wheel with one hand and lifted up the bottle with the other.

It definitely was a pirate's life for him.

"_Drink up, me 'earties, YO HO!"_

* * *

**Cue POTC theme! Hee hee hee!**

**Just the epilogue to go now, and then it will all be over! I'm kind of relieved but kind of sad at the same time. :) :(**

**Still, there's a whole series of Pirates of the Ice Age fanfics to write! :-D**

**Please review!**


	28. Epilogue

_Thousands of years had passed since Jack Sparrow set off with Manfred, Sid, and Diego on the _Black Pearl_ in search of adventure. The giant mega-continent of Pangaea had been shattered into countless continents and islands, and Sid's prediction of global warming had come true. The world was now much warmer than it had been in the Ice Age. _

_There was no sign that intelligent humans and intelligent animals had once lived in harmony together. The woolly mammoths, the sabre-tooth tigers, the ground sloths, and more, had all gone extinct. Every single creature that had lived in the Ice Age was now dead. _

_Save for one. _

_A small block of ice floated through the tropical ocean of the Caribbean, glittering in the late-afternoon sun. Trapped inside was a tiny rodent-like creature reaching out for a tinier acorn._

_It was Scrat. The last remaining sabre-tooth squirrel on Earth. _

_His frozen ice block bobbed up and down through the waves until it washed up on the sandy beach of a tiny desert island. All that existed on that barren mound of sand were a few coconut trees and a craggy peak of rock. _

_The hot tropical sun slowly and steadily started to melt the ice surrounding Scrat and his precious nut. Slowly, the acorn was exposed to the air for the first time in thousands of years. Finally, it tumbled out of the ice and onto the sand. _

_Scrat, still trapped inside the ice block, stared out at his acorn, unable to move. _

_But the ice surrounding him continued to melt. Soon his snout was exposed to the air. Then the rest of his head emerged from the ice. Then his tail. Then his neck. _

_Then the sun finally sank below the horizon. The air grew cold as the sky darkened to a navy blue, and a full moon emerged in the sky. _

_But even though the ice had stopped melting for the moment, Scrat still tried to grab his acorn._

_He stretched his body as much as he could, claws desperately reaching for his precious acorn. Slowly, his hands came closer and closer to his prize…_

_But Scrat did not notice that the tide had been rising all the while. For a wave quickly rushed up the sandy shore, right up to Scrat's ice block…and Scrat's acorn. _

_It picked up the nut and pulled it back out to sea. _

_Scrat blinked in horror as his acorn, the object he treasured most in the world, vanished out to sea. Letting out a scream of pain, he burst out of the ice and rushed blindly towards the peak of rock. _

BUMP!

_Scrat smacked right into the giant boulder. His head spinning, he stumbled backwards a few steps…and then his eyes fell upon something hidden in the shadow of the rocky peak._

_Nervously, he approached the object. It was a large rectangular stone chest, beaten and worn by thousands of years of wind and water. Its lid lay upside down on the sand next to it, where it had been left ages ago. _

_In the bright moonlight, something in the chest cast a glittering golden glow on the dull grey rock face above. Fascinated, Scrat hopped up to have a look. _

_There, sitting in the chest, were hundreds of gold medallions. They sparkled brilliantly in the blue light of the moon. _

_The sight was enough to entrance anybody. Even Scrat, whose eyes were normally drawn to acorns. To him, sparkly things were almost as appealing as acorns. Perhaps they were edible. _

_With his skinny arms, he bent down to pick up one of the medallions and have a closer look…_

…_but as Scrat pulled the medallion out of the chest, his fur and skin melted away in the blue moonlight, and he became a living skeleton. _

_Instantly Scrat felt an unquenchable thirst, and an insatiable hunger. Clutching his throat (or where it would be) he toppled off the chest and dragged himself towards the ocean. He didn't care that the water was salty. He desperately wanted a drink. _

_Then, right at the water's edge, he paused. He had become a skeleton when he had taken the medallion _out_ of the chest. Perhaps if he put it back in again, he would revert to normal?_

_Before he could test his theory, however, another wave swept up the beach, pulling the medallion out of Scrat's grasp…and tugging it out to sea!_

_The medallion was gone! Lost at the bottom of the deep blue Caribbean ocean, where nobody would ever find it. _

_Scrat let out a tortured wail, knowing that he would be cursed forever. _

Fin

* * *

**Finally finished! **

**I never thought it would take so long, but it was my first fanfic! **

**Please review if you like it!**

* * *

**Coming Soon: Pirates of the Ice Age 2: Dead Man's Meltdown**

**Check it out if you liked this one! :D**


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